Fire Emblem Fairy Tales
by Calum the Angel
Summary: [DROPPED]When Nils gets bored one day, Canas decides to read him a book of fairy tales. But sometimes, the overactive imagination of a child can have some strange results...
1. Little Red Riding Erk

"I'm soooo bored..." muttered Nils. He hopped up onto a flat rock and rested his chin in his hands, his elbows firmly planted on his knees. Everyone in sight appeared to be busy with something or other, and did not require his help at all. He sighed. 

Canas passed by, and noticed the boy's solemn expression. He bent over and addressed Nils calmly, "Young Nils, is everything okay? Are you well?"

"Oh, yes, I feel fine," Nils assured him, looking up. He smiled politely, but soon felt it fade. "I'm just really bored, that's all. I've got nothing to do."

Canas paused thoughtfully. "Well, when I need something to occupy myself with, I like to read a book."

"Reading is boring..." Nils muttered.

"Nonsense!" Canas exclaimed. "Why, reading can do wonders for a weary mind. It's what allows a Mage or a Shaman to use magic. And there have been many important and fascinating facts written in books for years."

Nils looked up at the Shaman again, wondering if perhaps his suggestion was not such a bad one.

Canas smiled, seeming to notice this in the young Bard. "Come to my tent."

The two headed for Canas's tent, and when Nils pushed the flap aside and entered, he was astounded. Randomly assorted here and there were piles of many books of different sizes and colours.

"Wow, Canas!" Nils enthused. "You must have thousands here!"

"In this little tent?" Canas said, unable to help but smile. "Maybe not quite thousands..." He strode over to one pile of books and picked up the one on top. "Here, this one may interest you."

"What is it?" Nils asked, peeking over his shoulder at the cover.

"It's a book of fairy tales," Canas explained. "Made-up stories about magical creatures."

"That really does sound like fun," Nils said, discovering that perhaps Canas was right about reading. "But...I'm afraid I don't know how to read, Canas..."

"How about I read to you, then?" Canas suggested.

"Really? You would do that?" Nils beamed, eyes brightening. "Thank you, Canas! I would like that very much!"

"Here, sit down," Canas offered.

Nils sat cross-legged on the floor of the tent, eagerly waiting for Canas to begin the first story.

Canas likewise sat down, and opened the book to the first page. "This story is called 'Little Red Riding Hood'."

"Say, Canas," Nils said before Canas could begin the story.

"Yes, Nils?"

"I was just wondering... Do you think I should imagine what the story is like as you read? You know, envision what the characters are doing?"

"Of course, if you wish," Canas replied. "Many people do that as they read. It helps give you a better understanding of what you're reading, and makes the story even more interesting when you can see it in your mind."

"Okay!" Nils agreed. "Sorry, you can begin now."

"Alright," Canas smiled. "As I said before, this story is called, 'Little Red Riding Hood'..."

But as Canas began to read, the only images Nils could bring up in his mind were not exactly those that the story described, but rather of the warriors at the camp.

Erk stood alone in his room, headbanging to the music cranked up to maximum volume.

"Wake me up inside! Wake me up inside! Call my name and save me from the dark! Bid my blood to run! Before I come undone! Save me from the nothing I've be— Hey! I was listening to that!"

He was cut short when Louise walked into the room and turned the stereo off.

"Pent would like to see you about something, dear," Louise said sweetly.

Erk grumbled irritably, but followed Louise downstairs nonetheless.

"There you are!" Pent exclaimed jovially to Erk, shoving a basket into his arms. "I need you to deliver this basket of food to your grandmother!"

"Grandmother?" Erk repeated. "But, do I have to do it today?"

"It'll be good exercise for you, m'boy!" Pent said boisterously, ruffling Erk's hair. "You spend too much time up in your room listening to Ivan Incense anyway!"

Erk hastily tried to flatten his hair again. "Evanescence, Pent..."

"Oh, you kids and your modern music!" Louise giggled. "Run along now, dear, and have fun!"

"Oh, I will," Erk assured them sarcastically. He grabbed his red cloak off of the coatrack, fastened it around his shoulders and opened the door, basket in hand.

"Erk!" Pent called before Erk left.

Erk turned at the sound of his name and looked at Pent questioningly.

"Remember, when you get to the Enchanted Tree in the forest, walk once around it counterclockwise," Pent warned. "That way, the werewolves that live in that part of the forest can't harm you."

"Right," Erk nodded. "I'll remember."

"There goes Erk with the groceries for his grandmother," one gossipy woman from the village said to another.

"He's such a good boy," said the second gossipy woman. "Plays his music too loud, but he always takes things over to his grandmother when she needs them. Boy, if he were twenty years older and I was twenty years younger..."

"And isn't that red cloak he always wears adorable?" the first gossipy woman gushed.

"I overheard the other ladies call him Little Red Riding Erk one day."

"Little Red Riding Erk! That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard!"

"Hm... Little Red Riding Erk, is it?" a girl whispered to herself in the shadows, listening to the women talk and watching Erk as he strode out of town. "Mmm, what a pretty young man! I can't wait to sink my teeth into him... Hahaha..."

So Little Red Riding Erk travelled down the forest path, enjoying the sights and sounds of nature. He recognized every bird call and even saw a family of deer grazing in small clearing. His spirits were high as he made haste to his grandmother's house.

When he came to a fork in the road, he stopped. Splitting the two parts of the path was a large tree, about ten feet wide at the base, but charred and broken about fifteen feet up. Erk remembered the story of the Enchanted Tree. Apparently, it had been struck by a bolt of lightning invoked with magic, and since had gained magical properties. The most notable was its ability to ward off werewolves, if a forest traveler were to circle the tree once in the proper direction.

"Okay, clockwise I go," Erk said to himself. But he stopped short. "Or was it counterclockwise? No, I think Pent said clockwise. Wait, I'm sure it was counterclockwise. Positive, even. But, only fools are positive... Oh, was it clockwise or counterclockwise? ...Uh oh..."

"Clockwise! Go clockwise!"

Erk searched around for the source of the voice he had suddenly heard, but found none. Fear welled up in the pit of his stomach. "Who's there?"

"Go clockwise!"

Erk looked around again, but there was no other human in the forest except him. He decided that perhaps the voice wasn't human at all. "Are you a forest spirit?"

"I... Yeees, I'm a forest spirit. And I've decided to help you find your way to your grandmother's house! The path you need to take around the tree in order to keep safe from werewolves is clockwise!"

"Thank you, forest spirit!" Erk cried. He ran up to the tree and circled it once clockwise, then continued along the path that began where the previous had split off.

The mysterious voice in the forest chuckled to itself. "Hehehehehe— EEK! A CHIPMUNK!"

As Erk continued on the way to his grandmother's house, the forest path became about a foot wide, so it felt like the trees on either side of him seemed to be pressing in. It was no matter, however, as he enjoyed being enclosed by nature.

But when he heard an unnatural noise in the forest beyond the path, he slowed down and listened. When he heard nothing more, he continued on, but heard the sound again. He was becoming increasingly agitated, and fear crept into his heart. He was beginning to worry if perhaps he really had gone the wrong way around the Enchanted Tree. The forest was very dark and haunting. This was werewolf territory.

Erk swallowed out of reflex and walked faster along the path. With the limited room, he had to hold the basket in front of him and he kept banging his knees into it. But he did not care, because the racket was making it so that he could not hear whether or not he should be scared. Try as he might, every maneuver he used to calm himself down failed, and he found himself scanning both sides of the forest around him, his eyes darting wildly. When they caught sight of blur in the path before him, he gasped and looked up, eyes wide and his mouth hanging slightly agape. He stopped dead, unable to either rush forward or run back.

A girl stepped into the path in front of him, blocking his way forward with the reduced space. She wore a long white dress and gloves and a long purple sash around her neck. She had pale pink pigtails, and her cute face and large violet eyes spoke volumes of mischief. This sight would not have normally frightened Erk at all, except that her ears were on top of her head, pale pink and fuzzy to match the long tail that swished behind her.

"Hello, Little Red Riding Erk!" the girl greeted sweetly. "May I call you that? It is such an adorable name!"

"Wait, that voice..." Erk said, eyes narrowing. "It's the same as that alleged forest spirit from back at the Enchanted Tree! You tricked me into going the wrong way!"

"Tricked is such a harsh word," the girl said, shaking her head. "I like to think that I invited you cordially."

"Who are you?" Erk demanded.

"My nearest and dearest friends call me Serra," the girl replied. She strode up to Erk and held fast onto his arm. "But you can call me honey!"

Erk made a strangled, high-pitched noise in the back on his throat.

"Say, what's in the basket?" Serra inquired.

"Uh, please, Ms. Werewolf," Erk pleaded. "I need to get to my grandmother's house to deliver these things to her. She's quite elderly, and can't get out to buy the things she needs anymore."

"Really?" Serra said innocently. "That's so very sweet of you to deliver things to her! She's very lucky to have a grandson like you. So sweet, charming, and handsome, too!" She began coiling a strand of his wavy violet hair around her gloved finger. "How would you like to come have picnic in the forest with me? Tee hee!"

"Uh...Uh... I have to go!"

Erk held his basket protectively and shoved past Serra, running down the forest path as fast as he could go.

Serra watched after him and grinned deviously. "Silly, pretty boy. Don't you know that no matter how fast you run, a wolf can always run faster?"

Hanna, Erk's grandmother, lay sleeping in her bed, snoring softly. Suddenly, her eyes flew open, and darted around the room.

"Something wicked this way comes..."

Hanna's honey-coloured cat Matthew lifted his head down at the foot of the bed. "That's what you say every time Erk comes to deliver your groceries."

"Quiet, cat!" Hanna snapped. She booted Matthew off the bed. He squealed and ran off into a corner, plotting her demise (as a cat might do).

All of a sudden, the door of the little wooden cabin flew off its hinges, reduced to splinters by the force of a powerful fist. In stormed a creature with the hunched over body of a human, the feet and head of a wolf, and very sharp clawed hands. The fur that covered its body was pale pink.

"Eeeeeeaaagh!" Hanna screeched. "Werewolf!"

"I'll save you, old woman!" Matthew cried heroically. He leapt from across the room at the werewolf, a silver dagger clutched in his mouth.

The werewolf merely dodged the incoming fuzzball, and Matthew skittered to the floor behind it. He was promptly squished flat by the creatures massive foot.

"Ow..." Matthew grunted. "Pet abuse is an ugly thing..."

The pink werewolf stomped over to Hanna's closet, where it promptly began rummaging through her clothes.

"Hey!" Hanna shouted. "Get outta there!"

"RAWR!" the werewolf shouted. It continued to paw through the clothing, and eventually found a matching dress and cap, lavender in colour. The werewolf spoke English, but not very well, as it did not have a human mouth. "Ooh! Pret-ty!"

Grabbing some more clothes at random, the werewolf picked Hanna up out of the bed, gagged her, and tied up her hands and feet. It shoved her in the closet, and hopped up onto the bed, chuckling in a growling voice.

Erk knocked on the door to his grandmother's hut, out of breath but thankfully out of the forest. His grandmother Hanna, being a mystical old woman, had the power to raise a magical barrier to keep people safe from werewolves.

"Come in, child!" he heard from within. He opened the door and walked in.

"Grandma, it's me, Erk. I— Gah! Matthew, what happened?"

Erk knelt down on the floor next to a rather flat cat with x's for eyes.

Matthew blinked and opened his eyes, looking positively spooked. "Redrum... Redrum..."

Erk raised an eyebrow, opened his basket and pulled out a large bottle. "No, it's red wine, not red rum."

He left Matthew on the floor and walked over to his grandmother's bed.

"I brought you the groceries you needed."

"Thank you, dear," Hanna croaked. She had her cap pulled down unusually low on her head, and the covers pulled up to hide most of her face.

"Say, grandma," Erk said slowly, becoming slightly suspicious of the woman in the bed. "You, um...seem to have fewer wrinkles than when I saw you last."

"Oh, that's that new facial cream I got last week!" Hanna explained. "Worked like a charm, didn't it?"

"Sure did..." Erk mumbled. He set the basket down on the ground and continued to eye the woman in the bed suspiciously. "You know, I met a werewolf on my way here, but I managed to get away."

"Oh, I see," Hanna said. "Was she pretty?"

"Well, uh, I dunno... I didn't really get a good look. I didn't really care, either. She was...kinda creepy."

"Hmph!"

"Pardon?"

"Oh, nothing dear! Just a bit of a cough!"

"I see..."

Erk was still not convinced. He decided to continue questioning the woman to see if she would slip up.

"Your eyes seem rather large today, grandma. And...purple."

"Coloured contacts! To match your pretty hair!"

"Ah... And, you seem a little taller than I last recall."

"I've been working out at the gym. Good for the posture!"

Erk knew that was a lie. His grandmother had been bedridden for months. She couldn't possibly have been working out in any way, shape or form.

Suddenly, Hanna began coughing and hacking.

"Grandma?!" Erk exclaimed.

"Just a bit of a cold, dear," Hanna said reassuringly. "I seem to be losing my voice, so you'll have to come closer to hear me."

"Sure," Erk said. He was still suspicious, but if it actually was his grandmother, he didn't want to upset her or leave her alone.

"Closer," Hanna pleaded.

Erk came a few inches closer.

"Closer..."

He came closer still.

"Closer, dammit!"

Erk was practically touching her before he finally said, "Grandma, if I come any closer, this is going to get really awkward..."

"Oh, it would be awkward," Hanna said playfully. "If I were your grandmother."

"I knew it!" Erk shouted.

"Surprise!" Serra cried, pulled off the cap and throwing off the covers.

"Ack! You!" Erk shrieked.

Before he could get away, Serra grabbed him by the collar and pulled him into the bed with a strength that did not match her frame. He was soon pinned on the bed beneath the crazed werewolf.

"B-but I thought grandma put up a magical barrier that keeps werewolves away!" Erk stammered.

"Have a look at your precious barrier now!" Serra crowed, pointing over to a corner of the room. A large black cord and plug sat on the floor just below an empty wall socket.

"Oh no!" Erk exclaimed. He glared at Serrra. "First you trick me into coming here, and then you disguise yourself as my grandmother! You're despicable!"

"And you're so gullible!" Serra exclaimed. "But I think that's just so cute! And now, you're aaaaaall mine... Why, you're such a sweetheart I could just eat you up!!!"

Erk's eyes widened in horror as Serra wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at him. He screwed his eyes shut and screamed as loud as he could.

From somewhere deep in the forest, Hector raised his head and listened attentively to the sound of screaming.

"What's this? Someone in need of help? Never fear, for the noble woodsman Hector is here! To the rescue!!"

Hector came heroically prancing through the forest like a noble buck, his mighty Wolf Beil in hand. When he came upon the source of the screaming, he entered a small hut through a rectangular hole where the door should have been, and found an...interesting sight. Serra, a werewolf he recognized from the forest, was attempting to forcefully hug a young man he knew to be named Erk. Erk, however, kept squirming free, but he never managed to escape her grasp and get out of the bed.

"Y'know, if you two want to be alone..." Hector said suggestively.

Serra stopped and looked up in shock. Erk, flipped onto his back with his head hanging over the edge of the bed, cried out desperately to Hector, "For the love of Elimine, HELP ME!"

"Okay, Serra, you've had your fun," Hector said tolerantly. "But I think it's time for you to go."

"But, Hector!" Serra whined.

"No buts, Serra," Hector said, a little more sternly this time. "Can't you see how uncomfortable the poor boy is? Maybe if you wait a few years..."

"But I want him now!" Serra continued to whine. She crossed her arms and pouted sulkily.

"Serra, don't give me that look," Hector warned.

"But, Hector!"

"Serra..."

"Hector!"

"Serra..."

"HECTOR!!!"

Hector pointed to the door adamantly.

Serra tried puppy-dog eyes one more time, but seeing that they were having no effect, quietly slid off the bed and shuffled toward the door as Erk rose carefully into a sitting position. Serra had taken two steps before she seemed to have an afterthought, and ran back over to the bed and gave Erk a big kiss on the lips. She promptly made a break for the door and disappeared into the forest. Erk promptly collapsed back on the bed.

Hector loomed over Erk and waved a hand in front of his face. "Um, Erk? Are you okay?"

Erk blinked the glaze out of his eyes and stared up at Hector. "I have some red wine in the basket. Would you mind getting it for me?"

"I can't serve drinks to a minor!" Hector said, scandalized. "You're not legal drinking age!"

Erk muttered to himself, "Never stopped you before..."

"What was that?"

"I said, 'What was that coming from the closet door?'"

"I think it's your grandmother!" Matthew exclaimed. He had managed to become 3-D again and mostly in good health. "I thought I heard the closet door open while I was nearly passed out."

"Good thinking, Matthew!" Hector said. He opened the closet door and sure enough, there was Hanna, bound and gagged in her own clothing. Hector gasped. "Senior abuse! Honestly, it's a terrible thing!"

"Serra has no respect for anyone or anything..." Erk muttered.

"I think she means well," Hector told him as he released Hanna from her bindings. "I mean, a lot of people get rather agitated— and by that I mean boundlessly infuriated— when she has an objective in mind. In this case, it was you."

Erk stared off into space for a moment, and his body convulsed with a sudden shiver.

"She's quite a handful, but I think you should give her a chance," Hector continued.

Erk glared at him.

After Hanna was fully unbound, she cooed to Hector, "Thank you, handsome woodsman! Hee hee...!"

"No problem, ma'am!" Hector replied, rising to his feet. "It's all in a day's— EEK!"

Hector nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt an unwelcome pressure on his rear. The old woman grinned at him mischievously, and giggling, pursued him, arms outstretched.

"Ma'am, please..." Hector pleaded, backing slowly out of the cabin. "I, really... I'm spoken for!"

Hanna merely giggled and quickened her pace. Hector cried out and ran out the door, followed closely by Hanna, a very youthful spring in her step.

Erk watched them, and shook his head slowly. "I think I need a nap."

"You and me both, pal," Matthew agreed. "You and me both..."

"Well, Nils," Canas said, "Did you enjoy that story?"

Nils blinked. "That was a great story, Canas! I'm not bored anymore!"

"Wonderful!" Canas exclaimed. "Would you like to hear another one, or have you been inspired to go do something else?"

"No, no, I want another!" Nils said excitedly. "I mean, if it's not a bother."

"Of course not," Canas said. He flipped through the pages and came to the next story, and prepared to read it to an enthusiastic Nils.

* * *

Well, whaddya think? Review and tell me, I'd love to hear from ya! I've got ideas for about the next two fairy tales, but if you've got any ideas, let me know. Buh-bye now! -giggle- o.O' 


	2. The Three Little Pegs

"Ready for the next story, Nils?" Canas asked. 

"Yes, please!" Nils said enthusiastically.

"Alright," Canas agreed, flipping to a new page in the book of fairy tales. "This next story is called 'The Three Little Pigs'."

"Did you say the Three Little Pegs?" Nils demanded.

"No, pigs," Canas replied.

"Oh. Okay..."

The Three Little Pegs, Florina, Fiora and Farina, came flying down from the clear blue sky on their pegasi, landing on the plush grass of a wide open field.

"Ah, the air is so fresh here!" Fiora exclaimed.

"This will be the perfect place to set up our summer homes," Florina agreed.

"Well, we may as well get started on building them then, shall we?" Farina said.

Florina and Fiora nodded.

Farina looked thoughtfully at her sisters. "Are you sure you don't need my help building your houses?"

"We'll be fine, sister," Fiora assured her.

"Come on, Fiora," Florina beckoned her sister, "Let's go into the forest and get some building supplies!"

Fiora agreed and the two ran off into the forest. The three sisters' pegasi grazed passively in the meadow.

Meanwhile, Farina pulled a cell phone out of her pocket and dialed a number, then waited for someone to pick up. "Hello, building contractors? I'm going to need you to begin construction on a sturdy summer home, right away. ...Yes, I know it's expensive. Don't worry, I've got it covered."

"Wow, look at all these daisies!" Florina cried, running into a clearing with a large patch of white and yellow flowers. She fell to her knees and began picking them.

"They'll look great in your new summer home, Florina," Fiora said, looking here and there for any tree branches lying on the ground.

"They're not just going to be in my house," Florina told her sister, "They're actually going to be my house!"

Fiora looked up, surprised. "Hm? So, you mean you're going to build your entire house out of flowers?"

"Yup!" Florina exclaimed with an armful of daisies. "It'll look nice and smell nice!"

"Not very sturdy, though," Fiora said doubtfully. "What will you do if there's a stiff breeze? Or rain?"

Florina looked thoughtful for a moment. "I'll reinforce it with saud, or wood. That should help."

"If you say so," Fiora said, still doubtful as to how her sister was going to live decently in a summer home built flowers.

"Well," Florina said, noting her sister's dubious tone, "What are you making your house out of?"

"Wood, of course," Fiora replied. "I'm going to collect a bunch of wood from this forest and build myself a nice country cottage." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded up picture from a magazine, and showed it to Florina. "See? This is what I want."

Florina looked at the picture, seeing it was a quaint wood cottage sitting in the middle of a forest. "Yes, that does look very nice. And if you use the right kind of wood, it might smell as nice as my house!"

"We can have the nicest smelling houses for miles!" Fiora exclaimed.

"Why have a pleasant smelling house when its owner possesses such a scintillating aroma already?"

Florina and Fiora searched the forest for the source of the voice, and fixed their eyes into the trees when they heard a rustling of bushes. Out from the spot they had pinpointed stepped a tall man wearing emerald green armour, a black shirt, white pants, and brown leather shoes and a belt. A black headband gave his light brown hair a ruffled look, especially around the pointed light brown ears on top of his head. A fluffy tail of the same colour swished behind him anxiously.

"Eek!" Florina screamed, recognizing this man as being a werewolf.

"No need for that, my dear," the werewolf said calmly, with a debonair step emerging further into the clearing. "What a lucky day for me! Two beautiful women have walked into my forest!"

"Your forest?" Fiora asked skeptically. She was frightened, but put on a brave show to spare her sister. Florina was mortally afraid of men anyway. The fact that this particular man could transform into a very threatening wolf-beast at will was not helping any. "And just who are you anyway?"

"My name is Sain, my fair maiden!" he exclaimed. "And what, pray tell, could be your heavenly name?"

Fiora was uncertain if stating her own name was wise. This man Sain was staring at her, eyes sparkling, but not with a light she found particularly comforting. She had never heard that a werewolf had any kind of power over the people whose names they knew, like some creatures. Sain apparently was curious simply for his own purposes.

"My name is Fiora," she said bluntly.

"And your name?" Sain continued, kneeling down in front of Florina. "What is your name, my angel?"

"Eeeeeeeek!" Florina screamed even louder. She ran behind Fiora and clutched her sister's shoulders, shaking like a leaf.

"There's no need to be afraid of me!" Sain assured her, rising to his feet.

"You don't understand," Fiora said, shaking her head. She put a hand beside her mouth and whispered, "Florina's very afraid of men..."

"Ah," Sain nodded, understanding perfectly. "She's intimidated by my masculinity! And I don't blame her one bit. Why, if I was her, I would be intimidated, too! But what a brave young woman you are to keep such a calm demeanor in my manly presence!"

Fiora quirked an eyebrow. "You're a weirdo."

Sain's eyebrows shot up. "Pardon? Oh, I see. You need only get to know me a little better. Just speak to any one of my friends, they'll tell you that I'm quite the charmer." His fuzzy brown ears tweaked cutely.

"Let's go home, Florina," Fiora suggested. Florina nodded with such force that her lavender locks shook furiously. Standing protectively between Sain and her sister, Fiora escorted Florina out of the forest.

Sain looked on after them, his face contorted with hurt. It soon changed to one of great annoyance. A disappointed growl emanated from deep within his throat, and his tail swished violently.

"Hmph..." he muttered. "That wasn't very nice..."

Later on that week, Florina sat in the middle of the meadow, chaining daisies together. She had already made a crown for herself and her pegasus, and now was set to work at the floor of her house.

As she was wondering whether to have hardwood or carpet, a shadow fell upon her, blocking the sunlight she was using to work. Thinking it was one of her sisters come to check on her, she glanced up without a second thought at the figure looming over her. It was not at all who she suspected.

"Good morrow, my beautiful enchantress!"

"ACK!" Florina screamed. "N-not you again! Please, keep away from me! It's not that I don't like you, please, mister werewolf... I-it's just like my sister said, I'm very shy—!"

"Don't worry your pretty head!" Sain enthused, kneeling down next to her. Florina shuffled away slightly. "Come now, I would never dream of harming you!"

"Yes, but it's not that..." Florina tried to tell him.

"Your voice, it's like the chiming of a pretty little silver bell!" Sain swooned. "I pray you, speak some more!"

Florina merely whimpered, leaning back as far as she could. She tried to get up and run, but her legs simply wouldn't respond.

"Don't be like that," Sain said in a husky tone, quite different from the tone he had been using. He leaned forward and caressed her cheek with his hand. She whimpered even more and leaned back as far as she could go without completely falling over.

Before Sain got too friendly, Florina's pegasus walked over and snorted. Sain looked up, surprised, and got a hoof in the face. It was the pegasus equivalent of a slap.

"Ow!" Sain yelled, falling onto his back and rubbing his face. He whined, and got up and ran away.

Florina clung to her pegasus's leg, still in shock. Her pegasus nuzzled her comfortingly.

"Oh, no," Florina moaned, after her tongue had become untied. "He was headed for Fiora's house!"

"This isn't turning out quite as I expected," Fiora said, fussing over the pile of twigs on the ground. "These things aren't going to make the nice log house I want... Hey, who's that coming?"

Sain ran over the crest of the hill, obviously fleeing from something. When he spotted Fiora kneeling on the ground next to her twigs, he stopped and began to saunter over to her.

"Oh, great," Fiora muttered. "Not this guy again. I hope he didn't just come from Florina's plot!"

"We meet again, my lovely knight!"

"Okay, skip the pleasantries," Fiora said sharply. She rose to her feet and met Sain as he walked and poked him in the collarbone. "You better not have just come from harassing Florina, or you're in for a world of hurt!"

"It's true, I did just come from your equally charming kin," Sain admitted. "As you said, she is shy, but I dare say we mutually enjoyed our latest encounter."

"How did you get that bruise on your face?" Fiora demanded suspiciously.

"Er... I'm afraid though we enjoyed our time together, her noble steed would not agree."

"Ah. Well then, Mr. Sain, I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that you stay away from my younger sister. And I'm sure her pegasus would agree with me about that."

Sain took Fiora's hands in his own and looked deeply into her eyes. "I will abide by your wishes, and may I just say that your concern for the welfare of your sister is touching!" He waggled an eyebrow at her. "Are you sure you're not just weeding out the competition for a chance to be with me?"

"Quite sure," Fiora dead-panned.

"Beautiful, caring, and modest, too!" Sain exclaimed. "What a lucky man I am to have met you. And what a lucky girl Florina is to be your one and only little sister!"

"I have another little sister, actually," Fiora told him. She immediately berated herself mentally for having imparted this information when his eyes lit up.

"You have yet another beautiful sister?!" Sain exclaimed.

"Oh, no!" Fiora said quickly. "I was only joking! Hahahahaha!"

"Ah, you can't fool me," Sain said knowingly. "I can see it in your lovely sapphire eyes that you spoke the truth."

"D'oh...!" Fiora muttered. "I'm afraid you won't be able to see her just now. She's extremely busy with building her house. I heard a lot of noise coming from her plot of land."

Sain looked thoughtful. "Hm... Well then, I'll just have to spend my time in your captivating presence."

Fiora winced. 'The things I do to spare my siblings...'

"What are you doing?" Sain asked curiously, eyeing the twigs on the ground.

"Oh, I'm trying to build a house," Fiora explained reluctantly. "I want to make a log cabin, but I'm having trouble finding any logs. I don't really have the means with which to knock down a bunch of trees, and I don't want to disrupt the forest."

"All that, and you're a lover of nature," Sain sighed, looking into the sky dreamily. Though this was similar to all his other flirting techniques, Fiora thought she heard a tone in his voice that seemed more genuine. It probably had to do with the fact that he lived in the forest.

"All I found were these twigs," Fiora continued. "I don't think I'm going to be able to make my log cabin, unless it was miniature. Or if I found a lot more twigs."

"It's quite simple to weave twigs, if they're the right kind," Sain said. He approached the pile of twigs and crouched down next to them. His back was turned, but Fiora could see that he was quickly grabbing twigs and manipulating them somehow.

About a minute later, Sain stood and turned around, revealing a woven basket.

"Wow," Fiora said sincerely. "Even I must say, I'm impressed."

"Behold, a basket," Sain crowed, showing off his work. He laid it on the ground and grabbed one of Fiora's hands, stroking it softly. "To carry our first child in!" He gave her a hearty wink.

Fiora gasped and felt her face turn red. She pulled her hand away and stooped down to pick up one of the larger sticks she had gathered. "Alright, I've been polite long enough. Get outta here!"

Repeatedly beating him over the head with a stick, Fiora managed to chase Sain away quite effectively. After he was several feet away and obviously not coming back, Fiora went back to her pile of twigs. She shouted after him, "By the way, I'm keeping your basket, 'cause it's really cool!"

Sain stopped and looked back, a large smirk on his face.

Fiora hastily picked up her large stick and held it up threateningly. Sain's eyes widened and he hurried away.

Fiora sighed in relief. "He's headed for Farina's house now. She'll be able to take care of him, I hope."

"You call that an in-ground pool?!" Farina shouted to a group of contractors in the distance, holding a blueprint in her hands. "I said I wanted it shaped like a peanut, not a circle!"

The building site was filled with noise, concrete and men in hard hats. The beginning of a steel framework to the house was in the middle of it all.

"Hm..." Farina mumbled. "I wonder if I made it big enough..."

"Yes, size is always an issue, isn't it?"

Farina felt an arm drape around her shoulders, and someone's hot breath down her neck. She turned her head to see a man with light brown hair, and a tail and ears of similar colour. The debonair smirk on his face did not raise her initial opinion of him any.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Your dream hunk!"

"Yeah, in your dreams, maybe," Farina said bluntly, shoving him away. "Sorry, but I'm a little busy here. So, if you wanna come back later to flirt, that might be the way to go."

"But my heart cannot wait for someone quite so beautiful as you!" Sain gushed. "Let's build a sturdy relationship of trust on a concrete foundation of our hidden feelings for each other, with a cement mixer full of love!"

"And cement?" Farina wondered.

"Yes, that might be a good idea, too," Sain nodded. "A powerful mind on such a delicate- looking creature. What may I call you?"

"You shan't call me at all, that's what," Farina said adamantly. "Werewolves aren't my...cup of tea."

"My heart shall be forever empty if I do not receive your name!" Sain pleaded. "I'll waste away! If it helps, my name is Sain."

"Alright, fine," Farina conceded. "My name is Farina. I trust you've met my sisters?"

"Why yes, yes I have," Sain replied. "Florina and Fiora. I sense a bit of a pattern."

"You noticed," Farina said in false surprise. "How very clever of you."

"Though your sisters were some of the fairest maidens I have ever seen," Sain told her, "you are by far the fairest maiden that I have ever laid eyes upon!"

"That's sweet of you," Farina said. She paused thoughtfully, then turned to look at Sain, stroking her chin. "Y'know, I guess you're kinda cute..."

"Really?" Sain asked, eyes sparkling. Farina realized that this had probably been his most successful encounter. "You think so? Most women simply refer to me as annoying. Imagine!"

"I couldn't possibly," Farina said sarcastically. "I'll think about it. Do you have collateral?"

Sain frowned and tilted his head. "Pardon?"

"You know, collateral!" Farina repeated. "What's your financial situation?"

Sain shook his head. "I still don't follow..."

Farina sighed in frustration. "I'll be blunt: do you have any money? I don't have the time for you if you don't have the cash. If I'm going to be tied down to a man, I need to know if he's going to be able to provide for me financially, do you know what I'm saying? I need a man who can put food on the table, who can rake in the dough on a regular basis. Do you follow me now?"

Sain blinked. His eyes shifted nervously. "Um, who ever said anything about getting married?"

Farina put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

Sain thought hard for a moment. "Well, I have a...den! It's a very nice den. It's got...uh...furniture..."

Farina continued to glare.

Sain smiled weakly and gave a little laugh. "Eheh... Y-you're so beautiful when you're angry..."

Farina shook her head pityingly and went back to her blueprint. "Look, come back when you've got a steadily paying job. Maybe then I'll have some time for you."

"O-okay..." Sain stuttered. Moping, he walked degenerately away into the forest.

That night, Sain was sleeping soundly in his den in his fleecy blue sheep-print pyjamas, Fuzzy Wuzzy the bear tucked protectively under his arm. Suddenly, his eyes flew open, and he sat bolt upright in bed.

"Wait a minute!" he exclaimed. "I don't have to take this crap! Sure I'm an obnoxious flirt, but it's no excuse to whack me in the head or start prying into my financial affairs! This time, the ladies have gone too far!"

He smiled at his teddy bear and hugged it tightly. He pulled back and stared into its shiny button eyes. "Ooh, Fuzzy Wuzzy, I'll show those ladies yet! I'll be nice, of course, but I'll take no prisoners! Nope, not me!"

Speaking in the deeper voice of Fuzzy Wuzzy, Sain said to himself, "Why, you sure are a handsome devil, Sain. Clever, too."

Replying to his teddy bear, Sain exclaimed, "Aren't I though, Fuzzy Wuzzy? I must say, you have fine taste!" He lay back down, hugging his teddy tightly and nodding off to sleep. "Ah, time to dream of those lovely Little Pegs whose hearts I will woo..."

Several days later, the Three Little Pegs were lounged out on the crest of a hill, watching as the sky faded into deep shades of orange and blue. All three had completed the task of building their houses.

"Mine smells like daisies!" Florina exclaimed. "And it looks so pretty! But, I never got to use those reinforcements I wanted... So it's just one big chain of daisies. It's very comfy to sleep on, you know."

"Did you manage to build your log cabin, Fiora?" Farina asked.

"Well, not quite," Fiora replied. "My pegasus and I went out looking for dead logs, but the forest is so thick it's hard to see from above, and it would take forever to go through the entire forest. So I collected as many twigs as I possibly could and built a house out of them. I decided to keep the grass as the floor, since twigs weren't very comfortable. And I've got a nice basket..."

"Oh well," Farina said, a smug grin on her face. "They're just summer homes, right?"

"Why are you so happy?" Florina wondered.

"The contractors were finished the project really quickly," Farina explained. "I knew they would be. I decided to give them a little bonus if they could get finished within the week. Amazing what a little extra money can do, huh?"

"Money is the root of all evil," Fiora sighed.

"Yeah, probably," Farina said dismissively. "So now I've got a four-bedroom, two- bathroom, three-story summer home, complete with sunroom, sauna and pool. Oh, and laundry facilities in the basement! I've got a pop machine down there, too. If you ever want anything, just come on over."

"I could go for a Mountain Dew..." Florina said whistfully.

All three girls started when they heard a haunting melody from the forest, the sound of a wolf howling. They sat up, searching for the source.

"That sound reminds me of that creepy werewolf that tried to flirt with me," Fiora shuddered.

"Eep..." Florina muttered, the memory of Sain returning with renewed force. She clasped onto Fiora's arm and shivered.

"So he did go and upset you more!" Fiora realized angrily. "I thought as much. The next time I see him, I'm gonna kick his ass!"

"You may have more of an opportunity than you think," Farina told Fiora, pointing off towards the forest.

The Three Little Pegs looked off in the direction Farina was pointing and discovered a figure coming towards them very quickly, bathed in the light of the sunset. The light brown hair and green armour gave it away that it was Sain, and he was running at them down on all fours, ears perked forward and tail wagging enthusiastically.

"Yoo hoo!" he cried out, voice echoing through the meadow. "It's me, ladies! Your one and only Sain!"

All three girls screamed in horror and ran away down the hill towards their respective plots.

"Come to my house!" Farina called to them. "It'll be safe there!"

"Don't worry, we'll be fine!" Fiora assured her.

"If you say so," Farina shouted doubtfully as the three went their separate ways. "But if you need help, just come to my house, pronto!"

The first house Sain came to was Florina's house, a pretty little bungalow produced entirely of white and yellow flowers. It may have looked good— and smelled good— but it certainly didn't look very sturdy.

"Oh, Florina!" Sain called from just outside. "My sweet little Florina! Please, let me come in, my darling!"

"Not by the wings on my pegasus!" Florina shouted from within. "Go away!"

"You can't keep me out of there forever!" Sain taunted. "I'll come in there and take you away!"

"No!" Florina shouted. "Just go away!"

Sain looked thoughtfully at the house of flowers, then took a deep breath in. He exhaled as hard as he could, and the little house of flowers blew away, leaving a very frightened Florina and her pegasus standing in the middle of the field.

"Eek!" Florina cried. She hopped aboard her pegasus's back and flew across the field to Fiora's house, which was the closest.

Not to be perturbed, Sain ran after her, and though he was not able to catch her, he could see she and her pegasus pulled hastily into the house of sticks.

Sain stopped running and strode casually up to the house. He called in, "Florina! Fiora! My two dearest angels! Please, won't you let me come in?"

"Not by the wings on our pegasi!" they shouted in unison.

"You sure can't take a hint, can you?" Fiora yelled angrily.

"What hint?" Sain asked innocently. "All I hear are pretty ladies too shy to admit their feelings to a handsome wolf like me. Go on, you can say."

"We'll say nothing!" Fiora said adamantly.

"Tell me your true feelings for me!" Sain pleaded. "Or I'll just have to come in there and ask you face-to-face!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Fiora challenged.

Sain quirked an eyebrow, then filled his lungs. He exhaled with all his might, and twigs went flying everywhere. Florina, Fiora and their pegasi stood, scandalized, in the middle of the field. They quickly mounted the flying steeds and fled from the romantic-minded werewolf.

Sain pursued them all the way to Farina's house, that may have well have been called a mansion. He crowed, "Two down, one to go! Then they'll have nowhere to run!"

He could see the two get escorted into the large, fancy house. When he arrived at the front door, the three were poking their heads out from a bay window.

"Now I have all three of you where I want you!" Sain exclaimed happily. "The Peg Knight Sisters! Oh, how I have longed for the company of all three of you gorgeous women! I cannot begin to describe my joy!"

"Y'know, maybe if you hadn't come on so strong," Farina called down to him, "we wouldn't have to run away from you."

"Really? Damn!" Sain pouted. "Oh, well. Let me into your mighty fortress, Farina, so that you and your sisters can get to know the man behind the wolf!"

"They look like the same thing to me," Farina said, resting her chin on her hand.

"Alright then, I'll just have to blow your house away to get to you, like I did your sisters'!"

Sain took a large breath and attempted to blow the house away like he did the others. When he did, however, there was no reaction. The house didn't even budge, or sway. He took another deep breath and tried again, but the result was the same. He continued to blow as hard as he could at the house, but it was still having absolutely no effect, and he was getting light-headed. Finally, he blew one last time and passed out on the grass.

"A whole lotta hot air," Farina nodded.

"He passed out!" Florina exclaimed triumphantly. "But, he could wake up again at any time... What are we going to do?"

"Say, I've got an idea," Fiora said hopefully. "I've heard of someone who had a wolf problem before, but he seemed to be able to handle it flawlessly. Farina, may I use your cell phone?"

Farina handed the cell phone off to her sister, and Fiora dialed a number and waited for someone on the other end to pick up.

"Hello?" Erk said as he picked up the receiver in his room.

"Hello?" he heard the voice on the other end say.

"Hello?" he heard Pent's voice.

"I've got it, Pent," Erk said tolerantly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Pent."

"Right-o, then!"

Click.

"Hello?" Erk tried again.

"Um, yes," the female voice on the other end said. "Is this Erk?"

"This is he."

"Hi, my name's Fiora. I've heard that you live near the Garoh's Forest, and that you had a problem with a werewolf."

"Still have."

"Oh... Well, my sisters and I have a werewolf trying to get into our summer home. He's a hopeless flirt, and he's kind of freaking us out. He's passed out on the lawn at the moment, but he could wake up at any time."

"I'd be glad to help you," Erk replied. "And I think I have just the solution to your problem. You're in the meadow just outside the forest, right?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

"I saw the building contractors go out there."

"Ah."

"Just give me a few minutes, and I'll be right there."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Erk! Bye!"

"See you in a while."

Erk hung up the phone and took one step. He dragged the other foot along the ground, and took another step. He continued like this for a while until he glared down at his hindrance.

"Serra, would you please let go of my leg?"

"No! Never!" Serra cried, gripping his ankle as if her life depended on it. "I'm never letting you go again! Ever!"

Erk sighed. "I'm trying to help some other people with their own pest problem. I mean, werewolf problem. I was hoping you could help. You may even know the guy."

"Well..." Serra said thoughtfully, drawing out the word. "Okay. I'll help."

"Thank you," Erk said. He added, "So, would you mind letting go now?"

"NONONONONO!!!"

"...Could you at least walk by yourself?" Erk suggested. "I'll even let you—" He paused to shudder. "—hold my hand."

"Hm..." Serra murmured, tapping a finger on her chin thoughtfully. She looked up at him hopefully, releasing his leg to reach out to him. "Carry me?"

Erk deflated, shaking his head sadly.

"Wow, I've never seen someone pass out five times in one minute, have you?" Florina asked her sisters. They replied in the negative.

Sain had woken up, but having discovered that trying to blow down the house was no good, since had tried head-butting it. This was only causing him to pass out more. But each time, he would wake up very quickly; just to pass out again.

He was on his sixth trip when Fiora looked out the bay window to the tree line and saw a strangely-shaped figure coming towards the house. As it came closer, she soon realized that it was actually two people, one carrying the other on his back.

"It's Erk!" Fiora exclaimed. "He's here! He'll help us!"

"He looks really tired," Florina pointed out. "I guess he would be. He's got someone on his back..."

"Literally and figuratively, I understand," Fiora told her sister.

"Not just anyone," Farina said. "Looks like a werewolf. Do you suppose that's his plan? To get the one werewolf talk to the other one? He may not be rich, but he's a clever one, that's for sure."

"Okay, this is where you get off," Erk told Serra. It was not a request. He straightened up and released his grip on her. She tumbled to the ground.

"Hey!" she shouted shrilly. "Help me back up!"

He looked at her and felt bad about dropping her. He berated himself for such feelings, but held out a hand just the same.

Serra grinned and accepted his offer. "Thanks, muffin!" Once back on her feet, she wrapped her arms around his neck and held tight.

"Do you see that werewolf over there?" Erk asked, after getting over the initial asphyxiation.

"Ya-huh."

"Well, apparently he's been disturbing the girls that live in that house," Erk explained. "Getting a little too friendly."

"Well, that's rude," Serra commented.

"Mm," Erk agreed, noting the irony in her reaction. "I was hoping since you're a werewolf, you might be able to talk to him. I think the girls in that house would really appreciate it."

Serra stroked her chin thoughtfully, considering her next move.

Erk tried, "I'd be forever grateful if you did this one little thing."

"Really?" Serra enthused, clapping her hands together. "Okay, I'll do it— for you." She pressed her index fingertips together and lowered her gaze. "But I'll only go over there if you hold my hand..."

Erk conceded, holding his hand out for her again. She clasped it in her own, and used the other to grip his entire arm.

Serra rubbed her face up against his shoulder. She cooed lovingly, "You're such a doormat!"

Erk sighed deeply as they headed for the large three-story house. He sang softly, "Wake me up inside... Wake me up inside..."

"What a splitting headache..." Sain muttered to himself. "Maybe I should stop the head- butt technique... But what to try next? Hm... I could try going through the front door. Yes! That's it! I'll go through the front door!"

"Pardon me, brother," he heard a female voice say behind him.

Judging from the use of a werewolf pronoun, she was probably a werewolf as well. He whirled around and found another of his kind clinging to the arm of a young mage.

"Hey!" the girl exclaimed. "You're kinda cute!" She ran up to him and began examining his hair.

"What vision of loveliness is this?" Sain asked. He clasped the girl's hands in his. "What may I call you, sister?"

"Serra, or sweetie," the girl replied. "Whatever mood I happen to be in." She chuckled giddily.

Erk sighed in a stunned relief. Serra had actually released him! But what was this feeling in the pit of his stomach? A sickening jolt when he saw the way the two werewolves were gushing over each other? It made his face hot, and his heart sink. 

"The name of your brave hero is Sain, o beauteous maiden!" the male wolf continued.

"At least she's gotten his mind off of the three in the house," Erk sighed in relief. "Maybe I should sneak by and see if they're alright."

He was about to take off when he noticed that the sky had gotten very dark. He looked up and saw the ominous storm clouds looming just overhead.

Apparently, Serra noticed it as well. "Weather sure does change quickly around here," she commented. "Oh well. We won't get hurt here. Lightning strikes the tallest object in an area, and that's the house, and it's grounded."

"Um, actually," Erk spoke up. "There's a little something you should know about me..."

"What's this?" Serra demanded.

"Well, Anima magic attracts natural elements," Erk explained nervously.

"Wait," Serra said, realization dawning on her. "Aren't you an Anima Mage?"

Erk nodded fervently.

"So, what does that mean?"

"Well, basically," Erk replied, "I'm like a human lightning rod."

ZAP!

"Oh my Gods!" Serra exclaimed. "Erk, are you okay?!"

Erk stood in the same spot, looking rather miffed and still steaming from the lightning's heat. "It doesn't hurt me. It's just highly aggravating to be repeatedly struck by lightning."

ZAP!

"That doesn't look healthy..." Sain muttered concernedly.

"Really, I'm okay," Erk assured everyone.

His eyes suddenly widened and he reached up, palm facing the sky. A stroke of lightning that was about to hit him again was suddenly averted back up. It came back down a few metres away, striking the Three Little Pegs' house. It was reduced to cinders, and the three young women fell to the ground.

"What happened?" Florina demanded.

"Stupid cheap contractors!" Farina raged. "I knew I should have gone with the other guys, but no! I had to pick the one with the bigger ad!"

"Aha!" Sain exclaimed. "I didn't need to blow down your house after all! Mwahahaha..."

Meanwhile, Serra had run over to Erk to see if he was okay. 

"People don't usually get hit by lightning twice and survive," she told him.

"I told you twice, I'm fine!" Erk snapped. He crossed his arms defensively and turned away.

Serra was a little surprised at his sudden outburst. Then it came to her. "Oh, I see. This is about me flirting with Sain, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" Erk demanded. "What does that have to do with everyone constantly being concerned for my well-being?"

Serra quirked an eyebrow. She smirked and elbowed him in the side. "You're jealous, aren't ya? Aren't ya!?"

"I am not!" Erk whined.

"I was only pretending," she told him. "Remember? You wanted me to talk to that guy and get him away from the girls in the house? I did it for you, remember?"

Erk slowly turned to face her again. "So, you didn't really mean that stuff you said?"

"Of course not," Serra shrugged. She wrapped her arms around his neck once again. "I only have eyes for you!"

Erk felt his heart lift a bit, but he kept a neutral outward demeanor. "Yes, well. You did a good job. Thank you." 

He heard screams coming from behind him, and he whirled around to see what had happened. Serra did the same.

Sain had all three Little Pegs sitting on his shoulders, and he was sauntering away happily.

"Wha— hey! He just got away with those three women! We have to do something!"

"Nah, it's okay," Serra told him. "I know that guy, but he doesn't know me. He's a bit of a scoundrel, but he won't harm them. In fact, I think it's a good idea."

"What's a good idea?" Erk asked nervously.

He got his answer when Serra picked him up around the waist and slung him over her shoulder.

"Ack! What are you doing?! Put me down!!"

"I'll do no such thing!" Serra replied. "Come on, Erk. Let's go home!"

"Since when did it become your home?" Erk demanded. His legs flailed wildly. "I want dooooooooown!!!"

"The end," Canas said in satisfied tone.

"That was a great story!" Nils exclaimed. "This reading thing is really fun. I'm so glad you wanted to tell me these stories, Canas. If it's alright, I'd like to hear some more."

"There are plenty more fairy tales in this book," Canas assured him. He flipped through the pages, coming to the next story.


	3. Rebecca and the Beanstalk

"This next story is called Jack and the Beanstalk," Canas explained. 

"A beanstalk?" Nils repeated doubtfully. "What could be so special about a beanstalk?"

"You'll see," Canas replied with a smile.

The magistrate folded his hands in his lap at looked pleadingly at his granddaughter. "Rebecca, I will be blunt. We have no money. So what I want you to do is go out of town and see if someone at the marketplace will buy our very best cow."

Rebecca scratched her head, puzzled. "Why would a magistrate have a cow?"

"Don't ask questions, girl," the magistrate said sternly. "Go fetch the cow. It should fetch a fairly hefty price."

Having been told not to continue asking questions, Rebecca decided to obey her grandfather and fetch their best cow from the barn. She went and gathered her bow and a quiver of arrows for her journey to market, then opened the large red door of the barn and walked inside the musty building. She was immediately hit with the smell of straw and cows.

Rebecca walked up to one stable and looked at the large beast inside. While most cows had a little tuft of hair on top of their heads, this cow was completely bald.

"Wallace," Rebecca said, reading the nameplate above the stall. She shook her head. "I'm confused. Wallace is a boy's name, and if you're a boy, then you're a bull. So, are you a cow or a bull?"

"Moooo!" Wallace boomed.

Rebecca shrugged and prepared Wallace to leave the stables with her to the marketplace.

Upon leaving town along the worn path through the green fields, Rebecca noticed that a man shrouded in a dark cloak was coming along the path in the opposite direction. She did not like the look of him one bit, but luckily she was armed and had a very large, very strong cow with her.

She tensed as the two crossed paths. At first she thought there was to be no conflict, but she jumped when she heard the man speak.

"Hey, kid," the man said in a low voice, stopping. Rebecca turned around to face him, showing him that she was unafraid. She flinched and cried out, however, when she saw him open his cloak.

"Wanna buy some beans?"

Rebecca dared a glance, and saw the man was merely opening his cloak to reveal several seed packages attached to the inside.

Rebecca sighed in relief. "Oh, you're a peddler..."

"Well, maybe not exactly," the man said. He was dressed primarily in dark colours like blue and violet, and wore a violet bandana around his long silver hair.

Rebecca found herself staring at a large scar across his eye, but tried to fight it. "What are you, then?"

"Oh, a little of this, a little of that," the man replied. "My name is Legault, and in this case, I'm a barter."

"So you want me to trade for your beans?" Rebecca asked. "That's good, because I don't have very much money... But, sorry if I'm being a little blunt, but who would want a bunch of beans?"

"Haven't you heard the stories?" Legault inquired. Rebecca shook her head, curious, and Legault went on. "Legend has it that somewhere in the sky around here, far beyond the clouds in a floating palace, lives a wealthy giant and his wife, the giantess. You said you were in some financial troubles, correct?"

"That's right," Rebecca replied, skeptical of his stories. "What has that got to do with anything?"

"The reason the giant and giantess are wealthy is because they are in possession of two living treasures," Legault explained. "One is the Singing Harpist. He has the power to sense jewels and precious metals, anything of value, and will be quite vocal about where they are. The other is the Gosling That Lays the Golden Eggs. As the name implies, it is an enchanted bird that lays eggs of solid gold. Therefore, obtain these living treasures, and you, too, could become as wealthy as the giant and giantess."

"Sounds like a good deal," Rebecca said thoughtfully. "But where do the beans come in?"

Legault reached into one of the pockets of his cloak and revealed three silver beans. "These beans were grown by the giant himself in his garden. They are vital to reach him for two reasons. One is that their sprouts attract the floating palace, as their magic force is common to the other. The other reason is that because a giant grows them, the stalk itself is giant sized. Since the beanstalk would lead to the palace, one could climb it and reach the palace. What you do after that is up to you."

"Wow," Rebecca said in awe. "So, in simply trading for those beans, I could use them to obtain far greater wealth than I would for selling Wallace at the market. It's a deal!"

Rebecca handed Wallace's ropes to Legault, who in turn handed her the three silver beans.

"Pleasure doing business with you," Legault said, nodding his head once and leaving the path.

"Mooooo!" Wallace boomed in farewell.

Rebecca skipped merrily back to town, humming an upbeat tune all the way. She burst in through the doors of her grandfather's office.

"Grandfather!" she exclaimed. "You'll never guess what I managed to trade Wallace for!"

"Do you ever look excited," the magistrate laughed. He enthused, "You sure came back quickly. What price did you manage to sell Wallace for?"

"Not sell, trade," Rebecca corrected. She held out the three silver beans for her grandfather to see. "These beans were grown by a legendary giant and giantess who live high above the clouds in a floating palace, and when we grow these beans, they'll become a giant beanstalk. We can climb it to reach the palace and become rich!"

The magistrate stared at his granddaughter, dumbfounded. After an awkward silence, he roared, "You traded Wallace for some beans?! Rebecca, what have you done?!"

"But, they're magic beans, grandfather!" Rebecca protested.

"Magic, shmagic!" the magistrate barked. "Beans...! For crying out loud, child, what were you thinking? What kind of fork-tongued wolf's head told you these beans were actually worth something?!"

"You've heard the legends too, grandfather!" Rebecca pleaded. "There's a giant who lives in a castle—"

"They're just stories, Rebecca," the magistrate sighed exasperatedly. "Made-up stories meant to entertain children. I thought you were mature enough to know that now. But I guess I was dead wrong, wasn't I?"

Rebecca paused, eyes locked with the magistrate's, unable to come up with something to say.

The magistrate held out his hand. "Give me the beans, Rebecca."

"But, what are you—"

"The beans, girl. Don't make me ask you again."

Rebecca reluctantly dropped the three silver beans into her grandfather's outstretched hand. The magistrate walked over to a window and tossed the beans out with all his might. Rebecca gasped when she remembered the stream ran just outside that particular window, and heard the three tiny plips as the beans fell in and were washed away. Rebecca moaned in sorrow and ran out of the room, holding her face in her hands.

The magistrate sat down in his chair and sighed. "I feel guilty about upsetting her so much... But honestly. Our best cow for a handful of useless beans? What are we going to do now...?"

After night had cast a veil of darkness and quiet over the village several hours before, a mysterious tune began playing from somewhere in the copse of trees nearby. The only ones who heard it were the forest creatures.

Legault sat by the stream, fingering out a string of notes on an ocarina. He blinked and stopped playing, noticing the moonlight gleaming off of three small objects floating in the stream.

"Ah, there you are," Legault said quietly. He held his hand in the stream and scooped up the three silver beans. "I guess someone didn't appreciate you as much as they should have. Oh well. This is as good a place as any."

He took a dagger from his belt and dug a small hole in the ground with it, then dropped the beans in and covered it again. Replacing his dagger on his belt, he stood and held the ocarina to his lips, playing a new, livelier tune. After playing a quick riff, he smiled and put the ocarina away, and stalked off into the forest.

Rebecca skulked up in her room for the rest of the afternoon and didn't bother coming down for supper. She fell asleep on a pillow wet with her tears.

When she awoke the next morning, she noticed that there was not as much sun as was usually streaming through her window.

"Oh, great..." she mumbled into her pillow. "A rainy day. Just what I need."

She lifted her head up off her pillow and rubbed her eyes, staring dazedly out the window. It took her a moment for it to click, but she soon realized that the sky was a bright, cheerful blue. There was something else blocking out the sun.

She leapt out of bed and looked out the window, and could hardly believe her eyes. Several metres away, somewhere in the shallow part of the forest, was a giant green stalk of a plant. Leaves the size of the side of a barn door grew at intervals along the stalk, and appeared to be the culprits blocking out the sun.

"Is that...!" Rebecca muttered to herself. Her eyes brightened in excitement, and she quickly slung her bow and quiver over her shoulders, running down the stairs and out the door into the village.

A large group of villagers had gathered around the base of the beanstalk, staring up into its massive heights. Rebecca ran up to her grandfather and joined him.

"Rebecca," he said. "I...I don't believe it. I don't know what to say."

"See?" Rebecca enthused. "I told you so!"

The magistrate smiled. "No one likes a gloater, Rebecca."

Rebecca merely smiled brightly up at him.

"Hm..." Rebecca heard a voice mumbled behind her in the crowd. "That's the biggest plant I've ever seen. And I live around plants!"

Rebecca turned around to see who was talking, as she had never heard his voice before. She was forced to look up, and was slightly taken aback when she noticed that this particular man, with light brown hair and clad in green armour, had fuzzy, pointed ears on top of his head. To be sure it was not just her eyes playing tricks, she looked down. He had a furry tail, too. She looked back up into his face and came to the conclusion that he was, indeed, a werewolf.

He noticed her gaze and looked down at her. He blinked once blankly, and then a big smile grew on his face. He clasped his hands together enthusiastically.

"Such beauty would I have not expected to see in a place like this!" he exclaimed. He grabbed both of Rebecca's hands in his own and continued. "You're an archer, I see. And what an appropriate job for one such as yourself. You have pierced my heart with your arrow of love, like Cupid!"

Rebecca blinked. "Huh?"

An arm suddenly reached around from behind the man and efficiently clasped his neck in the crook of the elbow. The arm pushed him down to reveal a woman with turquoise hair directly behind him.

"You'll have to excuse him," the woman said. "He's just stupid."

"Hey!" the man protested.

"Oh...kay..." Rebecca said slowly. She smiled politely at the woman.

The man broke free of the woman's headlock and now clasped her hands in his. "My dear Fiora, you did not honestly think that my feelings for you have changed? I merely can't help myself in the presence of a beautiful woman! You know that!"

Behind the first man and woman, a young lavender-haired woman leaned over to a blue- haired woman next to her. "Why are we travelling with him again?"

The blue-haired woman responded, "Because he's offered to be our escort, and we have nothing better to do."

"Oh, yeah..." the lavender-haired woman said thoughtfully. She sighed.

The turquoise-haired woman shoved the man aside and introduced them to Rebecca. "My name is Fiora, and this is Sain. And these are my sisters, Florina and Farina."

"It's nice to meet all of you," Rebecca greeted in return. "My name is Rebecca. I'm the granddaughter of this town's magistrate."

"If he could but sentence me to life with you," Sain swooned. He was promptly whacked in the side of the head with Fiora's fist.

"Aaaaaanyway..." Fiora drawled.

"Say," Rebecca said. "You three are Pegasus Knights, are you not? Do you think it would be alright if perhaps one of you could fly me up to the top of that beanstalk? I'm not asking you to do it for free, of course. If I'm right, I can offer you a good price for your assistance."

"I'll do it!" Farina exclaimed, practically knocking over Sain and Fiora in her enthusiasm.

"Hold on a second!" the magistrate said, apparently having heard the conversation. "Rebecca, are you planning on doing what I think you are?"

"If you think I'm going to find out if the myth about the wealthy giant is true," Rebecca replied, "then, yes."

"Y-you can't do that!" the magistrate said. "Please, reconsider! This myth is getting a little too real for me. If there really is a giant up there, you could get seriously hurt, or dead! I simply cannot allow my only granddaughter to put herself in danger. I could not live with myself if something were to happen to you!"

"I can take care of myself," Rebecca assured him. "You know I can. Look at it this way: I want to prove to you that I am mature, that I really do know better than to trade our best cow for a bunch of beans. Even though that did actually work out for the best... But the point of the matter is... Uh, what point was I making again? Well, anyway... What I mean to say is that I know I can do this, and I need you to believe that I can do it, too. If I can retrieve the living treasures from the giant, we'll make all kinds of money, and this town will reach a new age of prosperity!"

The magistrate looked at his granddaughter for a moment, then closed his eyes in thought for a moment longer. Finally he looked her in the eyes and said, "I believe you can do this, Rebecca. You will have someone along with you, so don't be afraid to get all the help you need. And don't do anything too dangerous, that you know you can't handle. And—"

"I know, grandfather," Rebecca interrupted. "Really. I've done a lot of training with my bow. I'll be ready for just about anything. And I'll bet the giant will never even see me. Just you wait, I'll come back with all the riches we could ever ask for!"

The crowd gathered around the beanstalk cheered as Rebecca flew away with Farina on the back of her pegasus.

Back on the ground, a man sidled up next to Florina. She noticed him, and shrank away a little. Fiora and Sain were still there, so she felt relatively safe.

"Pardon me, miss," the man said with a quaint nod. "My name is Legault. Would it be a terrible bother if I, too, could be flown up the heights of the beanstalk?"

"Um, perhaps..." Florina said quietly. She poked Fiora on the shoulder.

"Hm?" Fiora mumbled, turning to Florina and Legault. "What's this then?"

"I need a ride up to the top of the beanstalk," Legault proposed once more. "If any of you could provide me with one, I would be most appreciative."

"What's your concern?" Sain asked.

"There is another treasure in the giant's palace, but I'm afraid it slipped my mind before Rebecca left," Legault explained. "It is not a treasure of great value, however. Not in a monetary sense, anyway. But it is quite rare, and does have great value to a friend of mine."

"If you insist," Fiora said slowly.

"I'll do it," Florina offered.

Fiora looked at her younger sister, surprised. "Are you sure about this?"

Florina nodded. "I'm not as afraid as I used to be. And I'd like to help Rebecca, if I could."

"Ah, our little Florina," Sain sighed. "Growing up before our very eyes..." He wiped away an imaginary tear.

"Well then," Legault said. "Shall we get going?"

Fiora watched as the second pegasus took off, carrying on its back Florina and Legault.

"Well, Fiora," Sain said smoothly, sidling ever closer. "Looks like it's just you and me. And a crowd. But they'll get over it."

"We're not standing here and watching, if that's what you think," Fiora said tersely, grabbing Sain by the arm and dragging him out of the crowd.

"Where are we going?" Sain asked. Then it seemed to dawn on him. "Your pegasus?"

"Indeed," Fiora replied.

"Ah, you don't entirely trust that man, right?" Sain guessed.

"Not entirely." Fiora and Sain mounted the third pegasus and took off toward the beanstalk. Fiora continued, "It could be dangerous up there, and I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to my sister, especially when I could have done something about it."

"Right then, off we go!" Sain crowed. His arms encircled her waist. "So I don't fall off."

"Right."

"Hm... Nice abs. Have you been working out?"

"I'll push you off."

"Sorry..."

Rebecca and Farina ascended in wide circles up the length of the beanstalk. Rebecca fidgeted with her quiver of arrows in anticipation of what she would find at the top of the beanstalk.

After passing through a field of mist that was a cloud, the pegasus emerged back into the blue of the sky, and the two girls on its back looked around.

"Over there!" Rebecca cried, pointing wildly in one direction. She had spotted it: a large fortress that appeared to be sitting on a cloud.

Farina steered her pegasus over to the fortress and hovered just outside an elaborate iron gate.

"Do you suppose I'll be able to stand on a cloud?" Rebecca wondered.

"Here, hold my hand," Farina offered. "Then you can try and take a step without falling through."

Rebecca took Farina's outstretched hand and slid off the pegasus's back, carefully descending down onto the cloud. With a tentative step, Rebecca reached down with her foot and felt for any kind of solidity that would support her. To her relief, she felt her foot hit solid ground.

"I'll wait right here in case anything happens," Farina said after Rebecca felt confident on the cloudy ground. Farina reached into a pack and handed two torches to the archer. "I can't go in myself, or I'd stick out like a sore thumb. But you can signal to me by lighting a torch."

"Thanks, Farina!" Rebecca said enthusiastically. "I'll try to be quick."

Rebecca approached the fortress, and found that the way there was quite a bit longer than she'd imagined. But she trekked forth, and finally reached the front gate. Certainly not about to knock on the door to see if anyone was home, Rebecca searched for an alternate entrance. She found one, a small crack in one corner of the wooden door that was just big enough for her to slip inside.

She was amazed by the sheer size of everything around her. It was just the same as the interior of any palace, but ten times as large. It was all quite intimidating, and Rebecca began to lament her choice. How on Elibe was she ever going to find two objects that could be anywhere in the castle, with the impending threats of a giant, a giantess, and getting completely lost?

She decided to attempt a systematic approach. If these two objects, as Legault had said, were indeed precious treasures, then they had to be protected somehow. If Rebecca could find some clues as to where a treasure vault might be within the palace, she might be able to find the objects which she sought.

Rebecca travelled cautiously around the perimeter of several rooms, and found herself dazzled by each one. In her travels, she had come up with a plan that she thought to be rather brilliant. First, she would look for the Singing Harpist. It would be easy to find, as she could simply listen for the sound of a harp, or singing. Next, she would ask the Singing Harpist to find the Gosling, as the Harpist was able to find treasures instinctively.

She was just mentally congratulating herself on a plan well devised when she thought she saw a shadow move above her head. Her head snapped up to search for the shadow, and she jumped a little when she saw a sleek black cat with eerie golden eyes sitting on a shelf high above her on the wall, tail twitching menacingly. Rebecca continued on her way, watching the cat closely, and the cat doing the same. It appeared to have no intention to move, so she decided to put it out of her mind and continued her search.

When she reached what appeared to be a sitting room, complete with a dark fireplace and several comfy chairs, she heard very soft music coming from somewhere. Her spirits rose to a feverish pitch and she began to search madly for the source of the music. She became even more excited when she realized that it sounded like the music of a harp.

Her heart skipped a beat when she discovered the only other living thing in the room, and realized that it had to be the Singing Harpist. On top of the mantle of the fireplace sat a young man with reddish-brown hair, and green clothing. He sat cross-legged with a small golden harp wedged into the crook of his arm, playing and humming to his own tune.

Rebecca ran up next to the fireplace and stared up at the young man, hoping he would notice her first without her having to make a racket. She was pleased when she saw him open his eyes and take a look around the room. His eyes dropped to the floor and he spotted Rebecca.

"Hey! Hello!" the man cried.

Rebecca winced. She wished he wouldn't be quite so loud.

"Stay there!" he called, "I'll come down!"

The Harpist ran along the mantle to the edge, where he grabbed a hold of an ivy vine and repelled down the side. When he reached the floor, Rebecca ran to meet him.

"If I may ask," Rebecca said, "are you the–"

"Singing Harpist?" the man interrupted, finishing her sentence. "Yup, that's me! But you can call me Wil. That's my real name actually, but you can call me the Singing Harpist, if you want. But I wouldn't recommend it. It's a lot more cumbersome to say than Wil, don't you think? The Singing Harpist is nice for a title, but I don't think I'd want it for a name. Yes, I think Wil suits me just fine, so I'll let you call me that from now on."

"Um, sure," Rebecca mumbled after Wil's whirlwind explanation. "My name is Rebecca, and I was wondering if you could–"

"Rebecca? That's a nice name!" Wil interrupted. "Actually, I once knew a girl named Rebecca. I lived next door to her. In fact, she kind of looked like you. Isn't that a coincidence? Well, some people say there are no coincidences, but I personally think that they are wrong. Do you believe in coincidences? How about destiny? I believe in destiny. I think it was destiny that we met, because no humans ever come up here."

"Speaking of which," Rebecca said, her recent memory jogged by his comment, "Does the giant own a black cat with gold eyes?"

"A black cat with gold eyes?" Wil repeated. "No, I don't think he does. No cats that I'm aware of. If he did, it would be a huge cat."

"It would, wouldn't it?" Rebecca realized. "Back in the other room, I saw a normally- sized cat sitting up on a shelf. That wouldn't make any sense..."

"Certainly not," Wil agreed. Then something seemed to dawn on him, and he looked worried. "Wait, you said a black cat? With golden eyes?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Oh... That was no cat you saw," Wil said nervously. "I think maybe we should move along. You could be in danger..."

"In danger? From what?" Rebecca demanded, increasingly worried because of Wil's tone.

Wil was about to respond when he noticed something over Rebecca's head. As his answer, he exclaimed, "From him!"

Rebecca whirled around to face a rocking chair, upon which sat the malevolent-looking cat. The cat leapt off the chair, and Rebecca worried for its safety. However, she remembered cats always landed on their feet, and this feline was no exception. As soon as it landed, though, it began to morph and change, finally transforming into a man in black and blue coats, with very long black hair and a sword girdle at his waist.

"Intruders will not be tolerated," the man hissed menacingly.

"Wil," Rebecca whispered. "Who is that?"

"Karel," Wil replied. "He was hired by the giant to destroy intruders and vermin."

"Vermin?" Rebecca repeated in disbelief.

"To giants, anyway," Wil explained. "To us, giant rats and cockroaches!"

"Wil, get out of my way," Karel ordered. "Wouldn't want you to get cut down whilst I eliminate the small one."

"You leave her alone!" Wil shouted defiantly. "She's not doing anything wrong!"

"If she is here at all, she has already performed her one fatal mistake," Karel countered. He turned to Rebecca. "You hardly seem worth my while. You can't even fight back. But this is how I get paid, so it's not up to me."

Wil grabbed Rebecca's arm and whispered. "We need to go."

"You're making a big mistake, Wil," Karel threatened. He began taking slow, calculated steps toward them, drawing his sword.

"Go!" Wil screamed. He tightened his grip in Rebecca's arm and took off running. Rebecca was momentarily startled, but soon fell into step next to Wil.

Karel started off at a run also. He was far faster than they, but they had a head start.

Wil managed to steer Rebecca into a small triangular hole in the wall next to the fireplace. As they delved deeper into the claustrophobic tunnel, the light from the previous room grew dimmer and dimmer. Finally, Wil stopped and leaned up against the wall, catching his breath.

"He didn't follow us in?" Rebecca demanded, equally out of breath.

"No, there would be no point," Wil responded. "These tunnels go all over the castle, but this particular one has a route that goes straight into another room. Karel knows this, of course, so he'll be waiting for us no matter which way we choose."

"So, you mean we're stuck in here?" Rebecca squeaked. "Wait a second, how can he know which way we'll come out? He can't be in both places at once!"

"Fool, I can hear you perfectly well," Karel's voice echoed through the tunnels from some unknown location. "Your every exhausted breath and your every laboured heartbeat lets me know which way you'll choose to go."

Wil jerked his head up at the ceiling of the tunnel. "That's how."

Rebecca sidled up close to Wil and whispered in his ear, in an attempt to keep Karel from listening. "You said the tunnels go all throughout the palace, right? What if we took another route?"

"I think he would still be able to hear us go," Wil whispered back, "But I think I can navigate us well enough away from him as to keep him off our trail for a while. But he'll catch up with us eventually. And I have no idea where the giant is right now. He really is a nice guy, and his temper rarely flares, but watch out when it does."

"We've got to try!" Rebecca pleaded. "We'll know if the giant is coming if we feel the vibration in the earth of his footsteps, right? That reminds me, there was something else I needed to find while I was here. You can sense treasure, right? I need you to find the Gosling That Lays the Golden Eggs."

"Gosling?" Wil repeated. "Well, he lays golden eggs, but..."

"But what?"

"Just follow me."

Wil quietly lead the way down the dark tunnel. Rebecca did not hear Karel's voice, nor any other sign that he was still on to them. She hoped that he had gotten bored and decided to go kill a rat instead.

"Wil," Rebecca whispered. "I can't see a thing! How are you able to navigate?"

"I know these tunnels inside and out," Wil replied. He held a hand behind him. "Take my hand. I won't lose you."

Rebecca gratefully accepted and allowed Wil to pull her through the murky space. She silently berated herself when her face grew warm at the contact.

After travelling down a plethora of tunnels well-suited to the title of a maze, Rebecca saw light at the end of the path, far brighter than it really was since her eyes were used to the dark. When the two emerged, they were in a bathing chamber.

Wil lead Rebecca across the room where there sat a giant bronze urn. She soon realized, to her horror, that it was a giant chamber pot. Sitting precariously on the very edge was a man in reddish-orange armour with dark hair and sideburns.

With a shriek, Rebecca covered her eyes when she noticed his pants were dropped.

"What the..." the man mumbled. Then he noticed the two down on the floor. "Ack! What do you think you're doing, Wil? Can't a man have a little privacy?!"

"Sorry, Oswin, but I needed to find you, and I figured you would be here," Wil explained. "Another one, huh?"

"'Fraid so..." Oswin muttered.

"You're a man?" Rebecca asked, peeking carefully through her fingers. "I thought you were a goose!"

Oswin sighed deeply. "It's a common mistake, miss. You see, I'm Oswin Who Lays the Golden Eggs, but so many people get it mixed up and call me the Gosling, not Oswin. Popular opinion says I'm a goose! And the fact that I lay eggs doesn't help..."

"How in Elibe did that come to be?" Rebecca wondered.

"I was cursed by the sorceress, Queen Sonia," Oswin explained. "She seems to find it amusing to make people lay golden eggs."

"Why you, though?"

"Why not? She'll curse anyone or anything she deems fit. She is an evil woman, through and through. Some say her heart has never been warmed by the light of day."

Wil and Rebecca were suddenly startled when Oswin's face contorted strangely and he began grunting and groaning. After a moment or two of this, Oswin let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, and sound of something small and hard hitting the bottom of the chamber pot was heard.

Rebecca shuddered.

"Much better," Oswin said in a satisfactory tone. He pulled up his pants and leapt down from the rim of the chamber pot.

"How do you get them out?" Rebecca asked, not at all certain she wanted to hear the answer.

"The giantess empties it out every week for me," Oswin replied.

"But don't they ever get, y'know...buried?"

"What? Oh, no. This is my own personal one. That one is the giant's." Oswin pointed next to the bronze urn, where one of twice its size stood.

Rebecca placed a hand on her forehead. "Oh, Gods..."

"Rebecca, I need to ask you," Wil said. "Why did you come here? Why do you need us?"

"Well, I'm the granddaughter of our village's magistrate," Rebecca explained. "We're a farming community, but it hasn't been going well lately. We're running out of money, and I had heard stories that a wealthy giant living in a floating palace who owned the Singing Harpist and the Gosling– or actually, Oswin– Who Lays the Golden Eggs. I thought that if I could find them, they might help our village. D-do you think you could?"

"I'd love to help you," Wil exclaimed. His expression changed to one of sadness. "But, I don't know if the giant would allow me to leave..."

"It might give me some satisfaction if I knew my curse was helping a village in need," Oswin offered. "But again, it's really the giant's decision. He's been quite good to us, and to just leave would be rather ungrateful."

"I understand," Rebecca said sorrowfully. The thought of leaving empty-handed– especially without Wil– disappointed her greatly.

"Mind if I CUT in?"

A blue streak separated the group, Wil and Rebecca on one side and Oswin on the other. The streak slashed him across the chest, scratching up his armour and jarring him slightly, but leaving him relatively unharmed.

When the invisible assailant stopped, they saw that Karel had returned.

"You missed!" Wil exclaimed, slightly hysterical. "And hit Oswin!"

"He was in my way," Karel replied calmly.

Oswin stepped in front of Wil and Rebecca and held his lance at the ready. "Wil, get her out of here. Run. I'll hold him off."

"Where'd he get that lance all of a sudden?" Rebecca wondered.

"Don't ask questions, just run!" Wil exclaimed. He grabbed Rebecca by the arm and lead her away.

Karel shook his head at Oswin. "I'm not going to kill you, if you're trying to die heroically for your cause or something. There's no need to be dramatic."

"I don't expect either of us to die," Oswin replied. "That would be foolish."

"Good," Karel said. "We've come to an accord then."

With that said, Karel leapt clear over Oswin's head and ran off after Wil and Rebecca.

"No you don't!" Oswin shouted. He pulled back his arm and let the lance in his hand fly. It was off, and grazed Karel in the shoulder.

Karel groaned and stopped, clutching his right shoulder. When he pulled his hand away, he found blood on it.

"A javelin," he said quietly. "I should have known. You can really be quite the nuisance sometimes." He lifted his hand to his mouth and licked his fingers clean of the blood.

Oswin shuddered. "So...creepy..."

"But I'm afraid I have no time for you," Karel sighed. "Ta."

Karel took off again at a lightning-quick run.

"Damn!" Oswin uttered, cursing the heavy armour he wore. Regardless, he pursued the swordsman.

Wil and Rebecca had reached a large porcelain claw that served as one leg of a bathtub. They were hidden behind it, but knew they could not stay long. It would soon do them no good.

"Wil," Rebecca said. "Why does Karel work for the giant? Is it just for the money?"

"Pretty much," Wil replied. "It's good for honing his skills, I suspect, but there's only so far you can go killing vermin for experience. He uses the money he makes to enter colosseums back down on the ground. He leaves every once in a while for that purpose."

"How is he able to transform into a cat?"

"He has a book that he found during one of his trips to the ground that teaches shapeshifting. Sometimes he uses it to more efficiently to track and destroy vermin and intruders."

"Uh, Wil..." Rebecca said more slowly this time, her head pressed into his chest and her arms around his waist. "How exactly did this happen?"

"Hm," Wil mumbled, obviously not in the least perturbed. "I don't rightly know. It must have happened when we were distracted by staying hidden from Karel. How about that, huh?"

Rebecca pulled away and faced the other direction. She stammered, "Uh, s-sorry 'bout that. Let's just forget that ever happened."

"Hey, what's the matter with you?" Wil asked curiously. He began looking over her shoulders and chattering ceaselessly. "Why is your face all red? Do you feel alright? Do you have a fever? Hey, what's the matter? Why won't you answer me? Are you blushing?"

Rebecca turned around and lashed out with one foot, not really caring where it landed.

Wil fell to his knees, clutching his abdomen. "You kicked me... In the stomach...!"

"Darn right I did!" Rebecca replied sulkily. "Don't ask dumb questions!"

"Hey, wait," Wil said, with some difficulty managing to stand on his own two feet again. "There's a window just up there. If we can climb these steps, I can get you out of the castle."

Rebecca noticed the set of steps sitting next to the bathtub. They were so huge they nearly looked impossible to climb, but Wil seemed confident enough.

"Let's go," Rebecca said.

The two slowly but surely made their way up the steps. Wil, being taller, climbed up to the next step first, then offered Rebecca a hand up to join him. When they finally reached the top, they stood on the rim of the tub and looked down.

"The tub is filled with water," Rebecca remarked.

"Hot, too," Wil added, steam rising into his face. "It must have just been poured. That means either the giant or the giantess is going to come back here soon. We're saved! Or doomed... One or the other, I can't really tell which."

"That's a big help," Rebecca muttered. She looked over at the window, a great rectangular hole in the wall that revealed the blue of the sky and the white fluffy clouds beyond. "That's the way out, then?"

"Yes," Wil replied. He looked at the space between the rim of the tub and the sill of the window. "It's a farther jump than I anticipated... How do you suppose we can get ourselves out of this one?"

Rebecca shot him a wry look. "You're certainly not one for planning ahead, are you?"

Wil scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Does it show?"

"Nowhere to run!"

"EEK!" Rebecca screamed as something razor sharp whizzed by her face. She flinched enough to avoid it, but backed up into Wil, sending them both careening off the rim of the tub and into the hot water.

Rebecca splashed down, and felt as if she was going to be scalded by how hot the water felt. She was momentarily dazed and found it difficult to move in the water. She lost sight of Wil, but when she saw something else plummet into the water in front of her, she thought perhaps it was him. However, she changed her mind when she saw that this new guest in the water was a black fish with hard, triangular fins and rows of razor sharp teeth. She tried to swim away, but her lungs were burning as hot as her skin, and she felt as if she could pass out at any moment.

Red swirled around where the shark had landed in the water, and two small nodes on the shark's nose began twitching. It circled around, going right mad by the scent of its own blood trickling out of a wound on its right fin. Rebecca thought for a moment that it was distracted and she was safe, but it turned out to be just the opposite. The shark turned around and swam right for her with incredible speed, teeth glinting in the filtered light like a thousand tiny knives.

Rebecca flailed in the water, not ready to die just yet. Panic had flared up to its utmost degree within her when she heard a strange sound vibrating in the water. It was like music, only contorted by the water. The shark was inches from Rebecca when it stopped, floating lazily in the water like it suddenly had the urge to take a nap. Before passing out, Rebecca felt a great surge of water from behind before hitting the air once again.

She only passed out for a moment, as her lungs cried out for air and received it. She inhaled deeply and the bright lights in front of her eyes slowly vanished.

"Rebecca!" she heard.

She slowly sat up and found Wil kneeling next to her, eyes widened in concern and near- hysterics.

"Wil," Rebecca sighed. The panic in her had not yet totally subsided, and she could feel her arms shaking trying to support her weight. "Your harp... You played it in the water, didn't you? And the shark—"

"Over there," Wil pointed. Rebecca followed with her eyes in the direction he was pointing to Karel, stretched out and sleeping soundly. It would have almost been cute, except for the fact that he had just tried to kill her.

As she watched Karel, she noticed that the place upon which they sat was pink and covered in tiny ridges. In fact, it looked like a hand. Her gaze travelled upwards, and she was met with a woman's face, big enough to match the hand.

"Wah!" Rebecca cried. She leaned in closer to Wil for protection, and whispered, "Is that the giantess?"

"Yes," Wil replied. "Don't worry. She's really quite nice."

"What's going on here?" the giantess asked. "Is everyone alright?"

"Just a bit of a misunderstanding," Oswin called from the floor. "If you can call it that..."

"Then I think we ought to sort it out," the giantess decided.

"Sometimes thieves manage to find their way to the palace, and of course vermin is always a problem in a place like this. So I hired someone willing to do a little exterminating for a good price."

The giant and the giantess were seated at a table in the dining room, explaining how Karel came to be there. They had introduced themselves as Dorcas and Natalie, and had given the three who had fallen in the tub cloths to dry off. They now sat on the table along with Oswin.

Dorcas continued his explanation, "Karel here wanted cash to enter in arena battles, and he does an excellent job. However, I didn't expect him to attack young girls."

"Young girls are thieves, too," Karel muttered sulkily, cloth wrapped tightly around him. Though it was a cloth for a giant, it made for a very large towel. "She may not be an outright thief, but the reason she came here was to seize Wil and Oswin for her own purposes."

"You must understand," Rebecca pleaded with the giant and giantess. "Our village's crops are doing rather poorly this year, and we're running out of money. I heard legends about valuable treasures in your palace. I do realize this makes it sound like I was going to kidnap them. That's what it sounds like to my ears, even..."

Dorcas and Natalie shared a look of consideration. Dorcas turned to Rebecca. "Why don't you take them along? Wil, Oswin, do you mind returning to earth?"

"I'd love to go back!" Wil exclaimed. "Are you sure you're willing to let us go?"

"We've all that we need here, now," Natalie replied. "Go ahead. Return with Rebecca to her village."

"Yay!" Wil cried. He pulled Rebecca into a tight embrace enthusiastically. Rebecca could feel that familiar heat rising in her cheeks again.

"I'll go, but only if no one tells about my...condition," Oswin said.

"Of course," Rebecca said. "With your golden eggs, and Wil's ability to find treasure, our village will be more prosperous than it's ever been!"

"What about you, Karel?" Dorcas asked.

"I'll stay, for now," Karel answered. "There's a big mama rat who's been looking at me cock-eyed for some time now..."

Just then, Rebecca heard the flapping of wings behind her. She turned around and discovered Farina had flown into the castle, as well as Fiora and Sain, and Florina with an additional person on her pegasus.

"I take it everything went alright in here, then?" Farina assumed.

"Yup!" Rebecca replied bubbly. "You have to meet my new friends, Oswin and Wil. Guys, this is Farina—"

"Farina, huh?" Wil said quickly. The words began spilling out of his mouth after that. "That reminds me of another word for flour. Not the kind of flower you pick, you know, that smells nice and has the colourful petals and stuff. I mean the flour you use to bake things. Actually, I have a funny story about when I tried to bake something back home, and my pet kitten's memorable antics in the sack of flour..."

Rebecca didn't mean to leave Farina to politely suffer, but she noticed that the man riding Florina's pegasus was Legault. "What are you doing here?"

"There's a certain treasure here that my friend needs," Legault explained. "I forgot to mention it before, so I hitched a ride so I could retrieve it myself."

"And what kind of a treasure would that be?" Karel demanded, suspicions aroused. While Rebecca passed easily for the archer that she was, this man appeared to be none other than an experienced thief.

"A magic tome, of sorts," Legault replied. "It teaches its wielder the art of shapeshifting. Of friend of mine needs it to help out a friend of his. We're all just one happy, helping family, aren't we?"

Karel's eye twitched.

"Well?" Legault said after a brief pause. "Do you know of it?"

"Of course," Karel said. "I use it well to my advantage in the slaying of thieves and other such beasts."

Legault cocked an eyebrow.

"I don't need it anymore," Karel continued. "I've memorized every page. If you want it, go ahead and take it."

"I thank you on behalf of my friend," Legault said, grinning.

"And so Jack's village rejoiced upon his successful return with the treasures," Canas finished.

"I like that ending," Nils said happily. "But what happened to Sain and the Little Pegs?"

"Sain?" Canas repeated. "I never mentioned Sain."

"Oh, um..." Nils mumbled. "Never mind... Read me another, won't you, Canas?"

"Of course," Canas replied, flipping the pages in the book of fairy tales. "This next one is one of my favourites...


	4. Matthew in Boots, Pt 1

"Here, this one is my favourite," Canas said, finding the story he was looking for in his book of fairy tales.

"Well, what is your favourite story?" Nils asked excitedly.

"It's called Puss in Boots," Canas proclaimed.

"What am I going to do, Matthew?" Lyn asked of the cat sitting next to her. She sat cross-legged in the grass of a small meadow surrounded by trees, scratching Matt the cat behind the ears.

Matthew purred happily, only partly listening to Lyn's plight.

She continued, "My grandfather... I wonder what he could be doing right now? I hope he's alright... I fear he may be in danger from Lord Lundgren. If only I could meet with my grandfather..."

"Lord Lundgren," Matthew repeated. "Isn't that the ogre who lives in Caelin?"

"Yes, my great uncle," Lyn replied. "He has his eye on the throne of Caelin, I'm afraid."

"Don't worry," Matthew reassured her. "Just as soon as I can, I will help you. Hm... Maybe I should go to the edge of the forest and see if Legault has returned yet. As soon as he does, we can get started on returning you to your rightful status."

Lyn smiled at the cat. "I'm sure glad I found you. I would have been lonely here by myself."

"Well then, it's a good thing Hanna kicked me out of the house for clawing up the furniture, huh?" Matthew grinned. He stood on all four paws and went bounding away through the forest.

Darting through the trees, he saw a dark shape moving some ways ahead of him. He moved quickly but cautiously toward the figure in the forest, but soon discovered that it was no threat to him. In fact, it was his lucky day.

"Legault, you're back!" Matthew cried. He leapt out of the bushes and into Legault's path. Matthew began dancing around his feet, singing, "You found it! You found it!"

"I certainly did," Legault replied. He reached into his cloak and produced an old book with a rather worn spine. He placed it on the ground before the hyper feline. "Here you are, my furry friend. The book you required on shapeshifting."

"Eeeeeeexcellent," Matthew purred, rubbing his paws together. He pushed open the book's cover with his nose and began leafing through the pages. "So it was in the giant's palace, as we thought?"

"Yes," Legault replied. "It seems I managed to track it flawlessly."

"Go on, let's hear it then," Matthew urged.

"As you know, it once belonged to the ogre Lundgren," Legault explained. "It was stolen from him by a myrmidon."

"And so the myrmidon had it?" Matthew guessed.

"Not quite," Legault corrected him. "It seems the myrmidon had it won off of him in a duel to the death with some rogue swordmaster. That swordmaster was one Karel, in the employ of the wealthy giant."

"I see," Matthew said, intrigued. "A duel to the death? Whose idea was that, the myrmidon's or Karel's?"

"Why, Karel's, of course. He wanders in search of a real challenge, and earns money from the giant to participate in arena battles."

Matthew snorted. "Sounds like a real gentleman."

"Actually, he offered for me to stay and have brunch with him at the palace," Legault explained.

"What'd you have?"

"French toast."

"With syrup?"

"Raspberry."

"Mmm..." Matthew mumbled hungrily. He turned back to his book. "Well, let's have a look at what we've got here... Gee, this looks kind of tough... Turning into a human is obviously no easy task. But I will do it. I have to. I want to help Lady Lyndis."

"A perfectly noble goal," Legault nodded approvingly. "I'll help you out as best I can."

"Really?" Matthew asked happily. "Thank you so much. Let's see... Super catta, fratta... What does that say?"

"Supercalifragilisticexpialodocious?"

"Oh, good gods..."

"Where did Matthew get to?" Lyn sighed. She had spent enough time alone with her thoughts, and now felt that if she sat still any longer she would go crazy.

She was about to rise to her feet and scour the forest for the stray cat when a pair of hands suddenly appeared from behind her and obstructed her sight.

"Guess who!" her assailant commanded.

"Ee-YAH!" Lyn cried. Quick as a flash, she drew her sword and struck her assailant square in the stomach with the hilt of her blade.

She heard a rather sick sound from behind her and a distinct thud. She whirled around, crouched in a defensive position, to face her attacker. However, she paused when she saw the form writhing in the grass had the same honey-coloured hair Matthew the cat's fur was. This assailant also had slightly pointed ears and a swishing striped tail.

"M-Matthew?!" Lyn stammered. "Is that you?"

"Sorta..." Matthew grunted. He rose to a crouching position, nursing the tender spot on his stomach. "Sure are quick on the draw, aren't you?"

"What happened to you?" Lyn asked in awe. She resheathed her blade and came closer. She recognized his voice, so knew that this had to be Matthew.

"Legault returned," Matthew explained. "With the book. It took long enough to figure out that damn spell, but we finally managed to get it. And look! I'm a human! Not a convincing one, I'll admit..." He looked at the vestige of being a cat swishing behind his back. "...but I'll get by."

Lyn helped Matthew rise to his feet and stand up straight. It was at that point she noticed his new footwear. "Where did you get those?"

Matthew looked proudly down at the sturdy, brown leather boots he now wore. They were up to his knees, where they hung off at a strange angle very baggily.

"Legault lent them to me. Aren't they nifty? I love 'em!"

"They're at least two sizes too big..." Lyn said doubtfully.

"Aw, I'll grow into them," Matthew said dismissively. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get going!"

"Going?" Lyn repeated. "Going where?"

"To acquire your rightful inheritance, of course," Matthew replied. He took Lyn by the arm and began to cross the meadow.

"You've had this pretty much planned out all along, haven't you?" Lyn asked suspiciously.

"It's curiosity that killed the cat," Matthew replied mysteriously. "Not conquest."

Lyn and Matthew travelled for a few days and finally emerged from a forest into a farmer's field. Across the field and on the horizon was a large castle.

"There it is," Lyn announced. "That's Castle Caelin. It's where my grandfather should be."

"But you doubt he would accept you just yet, right?" Matthew guessed. Lyn had told him the story before.

"That's right. He wanted nothing to do with my father when he realized that he had married a Sacaen woman. But then, even if he was willing to accept me for who I am, he probably wouldn't recognize me."

"Makes sense," Matthew said thoughtfully. "Wait right here, Lyndis. I'll be right back!"

Matthew dove down onto all fours and took a leap forward, falling flat on his face in the process.

"Are you okay?" Lyn demanded of him.

"Ow..." Matthew groaned. "Uh, I guess humans can't do that, huh?"

"I'm afraid not," Lyn replied, fighting to keep a straight face.

Matthew stood and dusted himself off. "Poorly manufactured creatures..."

He proceeded on two feet, muttering all the way about how slow and clumsy humans were, to a barn next to the field.

One of the doors was open, and he peeked inside. A man in a gray vest with hot pink hair seemed to be taking stock on a wheelbarrow full of vegetables when he noticed Matthew.

"Eh? Who're you?"

Matthew pushed the door to the barn open and bowed deeply. "My name is Matthew, good sir, and I've come to ask a favour of you."

"A favour is it?" the man said suspiciously, advancing on Matthew. "Do you have any idea who I am?"

Matthew shook his head, a big, friendly smile plastered to his face.

"Oh... Well, my name is Geitz, and I'm the son of this here farm's owner. We don't much appreciate strangers trespassing on our land, and furthermore— Hey, you have a tail! Hehehehe!"

"Hey! HEY!" Matthew exclaimed as Geitz tried to reach around Matthew and grab his tail.

Matthew danced around the barn, trying to hide his back-end from Geitz. Geitz finally managed to seize it for a moment, but Matthew screamed and backed himself into a corner, wrenching his feline appendage away from the man's grasp.

"That is unwanted physical contact!!" Matthew shouted.

"Sorry, sorry..." Geitz apologized. "Uh, anyway, what were we just talking about?"

"Um, I needed to take some of those cabbages you have over there," Matthew replied, pointing to the wheelbarrow. He smiled widely. "I'm afraid I don't have anything to pay you with, except my undying gratitude."

"Hm, I dunno..." Geitz said doubtfully, stroking his chin. "Your tail did entertain me so that I may be in high enough spirits to give you some... But then again, pa would be awfully angry if I gave some stranger our cabbages for free... And furthermore—"

"Hey, are those butterflies?" Matthew interrupted, pointing outside.

"Butterflies?!" Geitz exclaimed, darting through the open barn door. "Where?!?!"

Matthew, now alone in the barn, smirked at his handiwork. "The attention span of a gnat."

After purloining three cabbages, Matthew left the barn and rejoined Lyn.

As the two crossed the field, Lyn said to Matthew, "I saw some guy go running out of the barn, prancing about and yelling something about butterflies."

"An odd one, he was," Matthew explained. "But he did help us, so I'm not complaining."

The next place the duo arrived in was a port city closer to Castle Caelin.

"We've almost arrived," Lyn said. Her voice betrayed a mix of excitement and nervousness. "What's the next step of your plan, o wise cat?"

"That's simple," Matthew replied. "I'm going to pay a visit to Marquess Caelin."

"Really? Can you do that?" Lyn demanded.

"I'll ask for an audience with him, that's all," Matthew shrugged. "Whether I'll be able to get in to see him, I don't know, but it's worth a try. It's all in the next phase of my ingenious plan. But first, we need to get suited up."

Matthew lead Lyn down the streets of town, at first wandering as if he did not know where he was going. At last, he seemed to recognize something, for his pace quickened and he stopped abruptly in front of a shop.

Lyn nearly ran into him, he stopped so suddenly. "Ack! Uh, so this is where we need to go next? Looks like they sell leather goods..."

"Yup," Matthew replied happily. He dragged her into the shop and immediately started gleefully pawing through the merchandise.

Meanwhile, Lyn wandered about the shop, looking at the hides hanging from the ceiling and noticing the man sitting behind the counter. He looked stoic, and not too impressed with Matthew's behaviour. A red bandana covered his longish dark green hair.

Lyn recognized his particular style of clothing. She murmured to herself, "Hm... I think he's Sacaen..."

"What do you think?" Matthew demanded.

Lyn looked over at Matthew to discover that he was now sporting a large hat with a feather.

"Uh, it's very nice," Lyn stammered, smiling.

Matthew walked up to the man behind the counter and placed the hat on the flat surface. "I'll take it!"

Without a word, the man looked at the tag on the hat. When he saw the price, he spoke. Though his voice was quiet, it was quite clear. "150 gold."

"That's expensive..." Matthew muttered. He felt around in his pockets, and in his cloak, brow furrowed thoughtfully.

"Do you even have any money?" Lyn whispered to him.

"What she said," the man growled, glaring at Matthew.

"Uh, well, no," Matthew replied. He reached into his sack and pulled out one of the leafy green vegetables within. "But I've got cabbage! Would you like some cabbage?"

"Not a cabbage man, huh?"

"Get outta here."

Matthew sniffed indignantly. "Well, fine!" In a huff, he replaced the cabbage and stormed out of the shop.

Lyn turned to the man behind the counter. "Excuse me, but, what's your name?"

"...Rath."

"You wouldn't happen to be Sacaen, would you?"

"I would. I'm Rath, of the Kutolah tribe."

"Really? I'm Lyn, of the Lorca."

She looked out the door and noticed that Matthew was getting away from her.

"Um, well, I have to go. It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise."

Lyn smiled, then rushed out the door after Matthew. When she was next to him again, she noticed that he had stopped and was sniffing the air. "What is it?"

"I smell rabbit," Matthew replied. He looked around, and seemed to follow his nose across the street, around Rath's shop to the back. Here, they found several fresh rabbit carcases.

"I guess that would explain it then," Lyn said, beholding the foul sight with some disgust.

"Well, if I can't have a hat..." Matthew said deviously. He chuckled to himself and stalked up to the skinned rabbits.

"Oh, Matthew, don't!" Lyn pleaded.

Before Matthew could lay a hand on the rabbits, a bolt from out of nowhere struck the ground at Matthew's feet. He screamed and jumped back, seeing an arrow lodged into the dirt where his foot had been milliseconds before.

He looked up frantically to find Rath standing at the back door, carrying a bow and knocking another arrow.

"GIT AWAY FROM MAH RABBITS!"

Matthew skittered frantically away from two more arrows, grabbing Lyn in the process and pulling her along with him back into the street.

Once a safe distance away, Matthew stopped to catch his breath.

"You know, I can't say I blame him," Lyn told him.

"What?" Matthew demanded in disbelief. "You wanted him to shoot me?!"

"No, nothing like that," Lyn replied. "But you shouldn't have tried to steal his rabbits."

"Okay, okay, whatever," Matthew mumbled sulkily. He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then his eyes lit up. "I've got it! I'll be right back!"

Lyn called after him, but he was gone without another word.

"Urgh... I wish he'd stop leaving me alone all the time..."

Matthew crouched behind some tall grass, watching one of his cabbages sitting in the dust. He had been watching the vegetable for so long, his eyes were getting blurry. But finally, what he was waiting for hopped into the tiny clearing. A little brown ball of fluff with large feet and ears sniffed delicately at the cabbage.

Matthew watched its movements with all the instincts of a predator, waiting for his moment to pounce. He lowered his upper body and waggled his butt in the air in preparation to strike.

Lyn paced back and forth on the street in front of Rath's shop. Several minutes later, Matthew came trotting back with a brown rabbit in his hand and a huge grin on his face.

"Where'd you get all those scratches from?" Lyn asked when he approached.

"You'd be surprised how feisty rabbits can be," Matthew said matter-of-factly. "Especially when you don't have any claws or fangs to kill it with... But I did it! Aren't you proud of me?"

"Sure," Lyn muttered. "But I'm not impressed with the way you keep running off on your little adventure and leaving me to wait for you. Not only am I excruciatingly bored, but I'm starting to wonder if everything you're doing is actually helping!"

"You've gotta believe me!" Matthew pleaded. "I know this all seems really redundant, but I've got it all planned out. You must know, I'm a very clever cat, and I promise you that I will be successful in making sure you receive your rightful heritage."

Lyn considered him for a moment, then smiled. "Alright, I believe you. But you had better live up to your word!"

"Right, then! Off we go!"

To Lyn's surprise, Matthew lead her right back to Rath's shop. Matthew walked right up to the counter and held the dead rabbit up in front of Rath's face. Rath flinched at the sudden appearance of the corpse.

"Okay, buddy boy, a trade," Matthew proposed. "My rabbit for your really cool hat. Deal?"

"...Alright."

Matthew skipped merrily out of the shop with the large-hat-with-the-feather.

"With these boots Legault gave me, along with this hat I traded Rath for, I'm stylin'!"

"Nice touch," Lyn agreed.

"Now that I'm all decked out, let's to Castle Caelin, shall we?"

"Matthew, I...I can't do it."

"Why not?" Matthew asked in disbelief. "First you go on about how I'm always going off on my own, but now you don't want to come with me into the castle?"

"I'm just too nervous," Lyn explained. "I'll just wait outside."

"You're afraid your grandfather will send you away," Matthew guessed.

Lyn nodded.

"Well, you shall meet, I guarantee it. But not until you're ready. You can stay out here if you wish. Besides, it would only seem proper if a lady of high birth would send in a messenger before her, right?"

"What a remarkable little animal you are!" Marquess Caelin said in awe, tugging on Matthew's ears.

"Yes, I discovered the means with which to transform myself into a human," Matthew explained, his patience waning. "I used to be a cat, the vestiges of which still remain to a certain extent."

"And look at this!" Marquess Caelin exclaimed. "A tail!"

"ACK!" Matthew screamed. He grabbed his own rear end and took several steps back. "Please, milord, not the tail!"

The soldiers standing guard in the room tried to hold in their snickering.

"Alright, alright," the marquess said dismissively. "Enough of this. For what reason have I accepted an audience with you?"

"Milord, behold!" Matthew announced with gusto, reaching into his sack. "I give you...cabbages!"

Marquess Caelin stared. "...Cabbages?"

"Yes! As an offering of our respect!" Matthew replied.

Marquess Caelin raised an eyebrow. "And just whom does this 'we' refer to?"

"Why, myself and the Lady Lyndis, marquess!"

"Lady...Lyndis?" Marquess Caelin repeated. "Could it be..."

Murmurs arose from the soldiers around the room. Matthew smirked triumphantly.

Lord Hausen wagged a finger at Matthew. "If this is some sort of jest...!"

"I speak the truth, milord!" Matthew pleaded. He started into his act, exaggerating a sorrowful story that could bring a tear to a demon's eye. "She has come seeking you, milord, her closest living relative. Her Sacaen village was ravaged by bandits! The fiends left not a single soul alive, save for the Lady Lyndis!"

"Not a soul...?" Marquess Caelin repeated quietly. He appeared shocked. More murmurs arose from the soldiers.

"I dread not, milord," Matthew replied, clasping his hands over his heart and shaking his head sorrowfully. "Her heart still resides in Sacae, but her body, milord, has come to Caelin! She seeks you, marquess, her one and only grandfather."

Marquess Caelin paused for a moment. "This all comes as quite a shock... But why did she not come to me herself?"

"You must understand, marquess," Matthew explained. "You and she have never met face-to-face. If you now are shocked, think how the lady must feel!"

The marquess considered this for a moment. "This is a lot to take in all at once... I pray you, leave me to think on this."

"As you wish, milord," Matthew complied, bowing deeply. With the bow concealing his face, no one saw the large grin that now rested there.

The next day, Matthew brought Lyn to the port for the next phase of his operation.

Lyn looked out upon the large expanse of ocean. "What have we come here for?"

"Another offering," Matthew replied. "Phase two of my plan involves giving the marquess many fish as a gift. See that ship out there? I'm sure some sailors aboard will give us some fish."

Lyn raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Matthew, you had no money yesterday. What makes you think you'll get any fish out these guys without money?"

Matthew pointed out at the ship anchored at the far end of the port. "See that flag they're flying? They're pirates. And that's why I need you here. It's a well-known fact that pirates have a penchant for pretty girls."

"Wait a second!" Lyn protested. "What makes you think I want to fraternize with a bunch of crass, foul-mouthed pirates?!"

Matthew shrugged. "Who wouldn't?"

At Lyn's death glare, Matthew said quickly, "Well, just think about it! Does anyone in the port appear to be afraid for their lives? Hiding their women and children? I think not. That's why these pirates can't be all that bad."

"Bad or not," Lyn growled, crossing her arms and scowling out at the water, "They're just bandits in a wooden tub..."

Suddenly, it dawned on Matthew. "Oh... I think I see what this is about..."

Lyn snorted and waved a dismissive hand at Matthew. "Don't patronize me. All I ask is that you don't leave me indebted to pirates."

Matthew's eyes suddenly narrowed as a devious plan formed in his mind. "Oh, there'll be no need to repay any debts... Heh heh heh..."

Lyn turned her head slowly to stare at the cat-man. "What deviousness are you contemplating now, Matthew?"

Matthew tapped a finger on his chin. "Now, where have I heard someone say that before...? Oh well, doesn't matter. Come on, let's go!"

"Matthew, I told you, noooooooo!"

Lyn stood in one spot on the pier, feeling absolutely ridiculous. She had tried pleading with the cat-man, telling him that it was an unwritten rule that Sacaens never lied, but he refused to listen. Matthew was not far away, crouching behind some crates. Lyn glared at him, but he returned an encouraging thumbs up. Lyn rolled her eyes, and watched the movements of one pirate as he slowly made his way in her direction. A few strands of brown hair poked out from under a white bandana.

He strode over to her and bellowed, "Who're you? We're working here, stand aside!"

Much to her own dismay, Lyn began acting out the role Matthew had given her. Clasping her hands before her, as if pleading to the man, she widened her eyes and drew her knees together. "Oh, please, sir, could you help me? I'm afraid I've lost my kitten!"

"Your...kitten?" the pirate repeated, slightly taken aback. "What were you doing with a kitten in the middle of a quay?"

"Well, I, uh, like to take my kitten on walks," Lyn replied weakly. She would have liked to hit herself at this point.

"Ooookay," the pirate replied slowly. He continued speaking rather slowly, as if anything faster would have been too much for the poor simple girl to understand. "What was your kitten's name?"

"His name..." Lyn replied, struggling for an answer. "His name was...was... Matthew!"

"Matthew," the pirate repeated. "Very original. I suppose you've got a puppy named Fido, too."

"Oh, yes!" Lyn nodded enthusiastically. "He's a...a cocker spaniel..." She suddenly shook her head. "Okay, you know what? I'm gonna level with you. I was put up to this."

"Put up to it?"

"Yeah. I know this is gonna sound weird..."

"Nah, I think the whole Matthew thing was weird."

Lyn nodded and smiled wrily. "Yeah, that was pretty bad. Look, I don't know whether or not you'll believe me, but I'm the granddaughter of Lord Hausen."

"I wouldn't know whether you're lying or not, tell the truth," the pirate confided. "This is my first time in this port, and I'm not too familiar with the powers that be. But if you're related to Lord Hausen, that must mean you're of noble birth, right? What the heck are you doing being pushed around into pretending you lost a kitten?"

"It's really long story..." Lyn sighed, shaking her head.

"Well, if you're in with the marquess," the pirate grinned, "you're okay by me. The name's Dart."

Lyn smiled and nodded. "Lyndis."

Suddenly, a strange movement caught her eye over Dart's shoulder. A flash of a red cloak and the swishing of a honey-coloured tail registered as being Matthew in Lyn's mind, but it was what he was doing that really caught her attention.

With the speed and liquid grace that seemed to go along with being a cat, Matthew slung a large sack of fish over his back and began to tiptoe away.

Lyn couldn't hide the expression of terror on her face, and Dart obviously noticed.

"Hey, what're you lookin' at?"

Dart turned around and discovered Matthew sneaking away with the loot from the dock.

"Hey, you!" Dart thundered. "Yeah, you with the tail!"

Matthew jumped and froze on the spot, staring at Dart. Suddenly, he screamed and ran away with the sack, practically kicking up a trail of dust at the speed he was going.

Dart looked over to where Lyn had been standing to find out if she happened to be in league with that thief, but she was nowhere to be found. Instead, he discovered her running after the honey-haired thief.

"I'll compensate you for your loss the very moment I have the chance, I swear!" she was yelling over her shoulder as she made for the centre of town.

Dart growled, and barked out a command at his nearest crew mate. "You! Geese! After that scurvy, tailed freak!"

A man with long pink hair undulating majestically in the breeze rested one foot on a crate and held his twin axes at his sides heroically. "Aye aye! ...Ooh, look, a butterfly!"

Geese dropped his axes and began chasing a little butterfly around, giggling like a schoolgirl.

Dart rested his face in his hand and shook his head slowly and shamefully. "Why did we hire this guy? You'd think the fact that his brother was such a pain would have tipped us off..."


	5. Matthew in Boots, Pt 2

"Ugh! Matthew, that's disgusting!" Lyn wailed, holding her nose.

"What? It's fish, what did you expect?"

Lyn shook her head. "Are you sure it's a good idea to present him with something that smells so bad?"

"But fish are yummy!" Matthew countered. "Everyone likes fish."

"You like fish because you're a cat," Lyn pointed out.

"Be that as it may... This is your last day with no roof over your head! I swear it!"

It was a much longer wait on this day to get an audience with the marquess. So long, in fact, that as Matthew sat waiting, his stomach began to rumble. Having very little other recourse, he delved into his bag of fish and began to snack on them. He tossed the remaining bones back into the bag.

"The marquess will see you now," a soldier informed him.

He led the way, and Matthew followed, still happily snacking on fish. Luckily, with most of the fish now safely tucked away in the cat-man's belly, the stink was not quite so obvious. However, the smell was the least of his worries.

"It's that delightful cat-man again!" Lord Hausen exclaimed. "What have you brought me today?"

"Milord, I come bearing fish upon this fine day! Freshly caught from the sparkling waters next to your castle, and numerous enough to supply you with delicious fish sticks for many days! Behold!"

Matthew slung the sack off of his shoulder and opened it. He peered in, and realized that most of what was left in the sack was white bone. There were very little blue and gray scales remaining to be seen. He had eaten all the fish!

"Er, a moment, milord!" Matthew covered quickly. He got down on the floor and stuck his head and hands inside the sack, pushing in further until his upper body was stuffed inside.

Lord Hausen and his men looked on in awe, curious of what the cat-man could possibly be doing.

After several minutes of suspense, Matthew emerged from the bag and pulled out a small statue, small enough to rest in the palm of his hand, but standing a little more than two feet high.

"Due to circumstances beyond my control, I am afraid I could not deliver you the fish I promised. However, in their place I give you this fish-bone statue for you to enjoy!"

Lord Hausen stared.

"It's a dragon," Matthew explained at the lord's silence, much like a child would explain his or her piece of art that he or she happened to be quite proud of. "You see how I gave it wings, and a spiky tail, and the cute little snout and horns? Isn't it great?!"

After another moment of silence, Lord Hausen began clapping. "Splendid! Just splendid!"

"Thank you, milord!" Matthew beamed. "I take great pride in being able to entertain you so."

"When might I see you again?" the marquess pressed.

"I fear I shan't be visiting you on the morrow," Matthew said sadly. "The lady and I will be running errands in the countryside."

"I see. I assume you refer to the Lady Lyndis."

"Indeed I do, milord."

Marquess Caelin nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. I will not force you to return tomorrow, but I should I should like to meet with my granddaughter very soon."

Matthew bowed deeply, as before, still hiding the same smug grin. "If that is what you wish, milord."

The next day, Lyn and Matthew were out in the countryside again.

"Aren't you excited?!" Matthew demanded enthusiastically.

"Is there any particular reason I should be?" Lyn wondered.

Matthew grinned widely. "Why, this is the day you meet your grandfather for the first time."

Lyn turned on Matthew suddenly. "What? Really? You prepared a meeting today? Then what are we doing out here? Shouldn't we be going to Castle Caelin?"

"Patience, milady," Matthew said soothingly. He winked. "Ostia wasn't built in a day. I haven't prepared a formal meeting, but it's a meeting all the same."

"Wow, now I really am excited," Lyn said hopefully. "This is what I've been waiting for. Okay, Matthew, what do you need me to do?"

"Take off your clothes!"

Lyn's eyes got wide, then narrowed into murderous slits.

SLAP!

Serra looked up at the strange noise in the distance. "Did you hear that too, Erky-pie? It sounded like someone getting slapped in the face really hard!"

"It did rather," Erk replied. He tried to turn his head to get a better look at the direction the slap had come from, but found it difficult atop Serra's shoulder. His feet dangled helplessly. "Um, could you put me down now?"

"No, I don't think I will," Serra said decidedly, as if it were a new idea. "I fear I'm just enjoying the view of your rear end far too much."

"Hmph..." Erk muttered, crossing his arms and blushing slightly. "I believe that's my line..."

"I didn't mean it that way!!" Matthew protested. He tried futilely to the rub the pain away in his cheek, where a hand print had decided to make a home.

"Well, it sure sounded like it!" Lyn shot back. "Well I'm sorry I had to do that, but you just don't go around telling people to take their clothes off! What was the point of that, anyway? Gauging my reflexes or something?"

"It was phase three of my plan," Matthew pouted. "It's not like I'll look or anything..."

"I think I'd like to hear a little more of phase three before I agree to it," Lyn suggested.

Matthew grew out of his sulk and his eyes lit up. "Okay, here's the plan: I let on to Marquess Caelin that we were out in the countryside today. I also know for a fact that around this time everyday anyway, he takes a carriage ride along this path, right by this pond over here. As soon he comes up over the crest of that hill over there, you start splashing around in the water like you're drowning. I run up to the carriage, screaming of how the Lady Lyndis was attacked by a group of thieves, robbed of her clothing and thrown into the pond. Alas, she knows not how to swim! And so, Lord Hausen's guards come rushing from the carriage to save you, giving you a snazzy new outfit and letting your ride in the carriage, giving you some good old catching up time."

"I don't want new clothes, though!" Lyn protested.

"Well, you will a little later," Matthew explained. "I'm taking them."

"What?! So now you're a cross-dresser?!"

"Please, stop jumping to conclusions! I know this all sounds absurd, but everything is going perfectly. I have it all under control. You told me before you trusted me. Don't you still?"

Lyn sighed. "I guess... Now turn around, and if I catch you peaking, it's not your face I'll be aiming for!"

Matthew gulped and ran off across the path, looking out at the countryside. When he heard a splash followed by a scream, he whirled around, forgetting that he wasn't supposed to look.

Luckily, she was almost fully submerged in the water and had her back turned. "Th-this water is freezing!" Braving the chill, she waded out further.

"Sorry," Matthew apologized, stashing the clothing she'd left on the shore into his cloak. "If I could have offered you a warmer pond, I would have."

"I don't know if I can do this," Lyn said doubtfully from the middle of the pond. "This is deceitful! The water is so shallow, I can touch the bottom!"

"Okay then, pretending to drown won't be the issue," Matthew agreed. "Just try in vain to escape that alligator that's swimming slowly towards you."

"Oh, Matthew, like I'd really fall for— AAAHH!!!"

"That's good! Keep that up!" Matthew rooted, spotting the carriage just cresting the hill. He ran for the carriage as fast as he could, crying, "Lord Hausen! Lord Hausen! Lady Lyndis is in danger!"

"Danger? What danger?!" Lord Hausen demanded, poking his head out the carriage window.

"Thieves robbed her and pushed her in the pond!" Matthew explained quickly. "A pond filled with alligators!"

"Go! Save her!" Lord Hausen ordered. A pair of soldiers darted from the carriage and made a bee-line for the pond.

Lyn was trying to run along the bottom of the water away from the alligator, moving slowly along the surface as if to torment her. Matthew watched and silently cursed himself. It seemed Lyn didn't know how to swim after all...

One of the soldiers to her rescue had a javelin and thrust it as hard as he could at the alligator threatening Lyn. The spear hit its mark and the alligator hissed and thrashed around, a cloud of blood mixing with the already murky pond water.

Lyn reached the shore and was helped partway out by the other soldier. He handed her a large velvet, fur-lined cloak with which to wrap herself in. She took it thankfully, embarrassed beyond all comprehension.

Once she had dried and, concealed from everyone behind the outstretched cloak, changed into the spare clothing that was concealed in the carriage, she and Matthew climbed into the carriage itself. They sat across from Lord Hausen, and the soldiers took to walking outside next to the carriage as guards.

"I swear, the next weapon I get my hands on is going into your neck...!" Lyn whispered through clenched teeth at Matthew.

Matthew smiled weakly and flinched away from the enraged lady.

"Lyndis..." Lord Hausen said. "Can it truly be?"

"Grandfather," Lyn smiled. "It is I, Lyndis, your granddaughter."

Matthew sniffled and wiped away a tear. "Ah... Reunions... They get to me every time..."

"Perhaps it would be best to turn this carriage right around and head back for the city," the marquess said suddenly. "You could be in great danger, travelling around in this area."

"Oh, you don't mean the whole thieves attacking me thing, do you?" Lyn asked. "Because that was really all—"

"No, nothing like that," said the marquess. The lines in his face seemed to deepen as he shook his head sorrowfully. "This...this is much worse."

"Whatever do you mean?"

"My brother, your great uncle Lundgren... He has learned of your presence in Caelin."

"Lord Lundgren?" Lyn repeated, eyes narrowing. "Yes, I know of him."

Hausen nodded. "I thought you might. I fear he eyes the throne of Caelin for himself. I'm not going to live forever. He knows that full well as anyone else does. Of course, now that you've presented yourself, Lady Lyndis, the heir to the throne of Caelin, that puts quite a convenient roadblock up for his plans, doesn't it?"

"If I inherit, he won't," Lyn deduced quite simply.

"His own fortress was built out in this countryside," Hausen continued. "If we happen to meet with him or his men on this road, they will surely try to kill you."

"That's not going to happen," Matthew said adamantly. His usually jovial demeanor had been replaced with one of grim determination. "Tell your driver to head back for the city. Stay within the castle until I've sent word that it's safe."

"What are you saying?" Lyn demanded. "You're not going off on your own again, are you? Matthew, this is serious! You can't possibly be thinking of taking Lord Lundgren on, are you?"

"I thought we went over this whole trust issue."

Lyn shook her head furiously. "If you died, I'd never forgive myself!"

Matthew shut his eyes and grinned. "Hey, if he wants to kill me, he's gonna have to catch me first. I'm a cat, remember? I've got nine lives, and they're burning a hole in my pocket."

Matthew watched as the carriage, turned in the other direction now, headed back down the path towards the city. He nodded purposefully, then ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction, right for Lord Lundgren's fortress.

On the way, he noticed that alongside the road up ahead was a small shack, presided over by two soldiers and a few cavaliers. They had to be Lundgren's.

"Halt!" one of the soldiers shouted at him as he approached. The soldier leveled a lance with him and his mouth was twisted into a sneer beneath his helmet. "What's your business here, furball?"

"I come bearing news for your Lord Lundgren," Matthew stated seriously. "Lady Lyndis is coming this way, and she is prepared to challenge the lord for the title of heir to the throne of Caelin!"

The two soldiers shared a look. The first one turned his gaze upon Matthew again. "How do we know you're not bluffing?"

"Are you willing to risk it if I'm not?" Matthew answered coldly.

The soldiers shared a second glance, this one of rising terror.

Matthew smiled. "She has long, dark green hair, in a ponytail. Part Sacaen, and wearing a blue dress and most likely equipped with a sword."

The first one, again, trying to keep his cool, turned to Matthew. "Go about your business. The lord will be informed right away."

"As you wish," Matthew replied. He sprinted away. Once he was well out of their line of sight and half way up the hill to the fortress, he concealed himself behind some shrubbery. He watched as one of the cavaliers rode up to the fortress, apparently delivering the message. Matthew, smiling triumphantly, reached into his cloak and pulled out two things: Lady Lyndis's old clothes, and the book Legault had given him on shapeshifting.

"Milord, we have word that the Lady Lyndis is coming this way," the cavalier informed the lord.

Lord Lundgren glared at the cavalier from his chair. "How accurate is this information?"

"I know not, sir," the horseman replied. "It was delivered to us by a strange man with the ears and tail of a cat. He appeared to be nothing more than a peasant. But whether or not this information is false, we at the check point thought it would be wise to alert you of this, just in case."

All of a sudden, a soldier ran into the room and shouted, "Milord, a lone woman is approaching the castle!"

"A lone woman?" Lundgren repeated. He grinned. "You don't say... And her appearance?"

"Long green hair, in a ponytail," the soldier replied.

"And a blue dress? With a sword?"

"Yes, milord. How did you—?"

"And there was no one with her? You're certain?"

"Not so far as I could see. There's no one on the road, and there's no shelter for any troops to launch a surprise attack on our west side."

Lundgren leaned back in his chair. "You're all dismissed. Send everyone to the east wing of the fortress."

The soldier looked puzzled. "Milord?"

"Do as I command!" Lord Lundgren snapped. The grin took its place once more and he calmed himself again. "I want to deal with the girl on my own..."

The front of the castle was completely deserted. Lundgren waited patiently, fully attired in a general's armour and carrying a large steel lance. He heard footfalls padding down the hall, and a woman in a blue dress scurried in and screeched to a halt on the other side of the room. Her long green hair streamed out behind her as she took on a defiant stance.

"Ah, grand niece," Lundgren greeted with false belligerence. "So good of you to come."

The woman narrowed her eyes and pulled an eastern-style sword from its scabbard at her side. She stood before him threateningly.

"Care to test your steel against mine?" Lundgren taunted. He took slow, resonating steps as his heavy armour clanked with each movement.

The woman prepared herself, then sprinted at the general, a blur of slashing blades as she suddenly appeared in front of him. Her speed was great, but her technique was awful, hacking away at his armour futilely as if she had never used a sword before.

"Vermin!" Lundgren bellowed. He reached out and snatched her by the ponytail. He lifted her off the ground, and the sudden shock made her lose her grip and drop her sword. She dangled with her neck bent at a strange angle, her face contorted in pain.

He adjusted his grip on the steel lance. "I've finally got you where I want you, Lyndis!"

When the woman spoke, though, Lundgren was shocked into submission:

"See, now that's where we have a problem..."

The woman's voice...sounded like a man's!

Lundgren gasped in horror as the dark green hair in his left hand suddenly turned honey blonde. The one who he thought was Lyn chanted some words under her breath, and bands of blue light seemed to morph her form into a new one. The ponytail he held seemed to melt away. This new being dropped to the stone floor in a crouch. He grabbed the dropped sword, which had morphed into a dagger by this time, and used it to thrust into a gap in the general's armour.

Lundgren grunted irritably at being duped, and lurched at the bloody wound in his side. In a sudden fit of anger, he swung the steel lance, much like it was the broad end of an axe. Though unconventional, it was effective enough at striking the man in the side of the head and sending him skidding across the floor.

He landed on his stomach and tried get up, groaning painfully. He clutched his head and looked up at Lundgren clanked over to him, step by laboured step.

Matthew watched in horror as death in a suit of armour strode towards him. Everything had been going fine until he had waited too long to get away from the general after stabbing him. The sudden lance blow had been unexpected, and now Matthew didn't have a weapon. He thought he had been lucky that there were no guards. His plan was to wound Lundgren and leave him to bleed to death, but it was not meant to be. Matthew's world spun, and he felt the blood trickle from the side of his head onto his ear. 

As blurry as his vision was, he noticed a dark shape scamper along the architectural ledge around the room. It stopped, and the rope harnessing a large iron chandelier began to shake. Matthew realized that he had been saved.

The general suddenly stopped, apparently noticing the faint smile growing on Matthew's lips as he looked overhead. Lundgren leaned backwards, the only way the armour allowed him to look up, and saw the chandelier seconds before it struck him. Matthew heard the resounding clang and raspy scratching of metal on metal, along with an angered cry from Lord Lundgren. The cat-man felt great satisfaction as the impact of the chandelier caused the impenetrable general to lose his balance and fall to the floor with an earthshaking thud.

The shadow Matthew had seen moving along the ledge leapt off and landed on the floor. It shot by him like a bullet and ran down the hall, calling after him, "Follow me!"

For a moment, Matthew could have sworn he recognized the voice, but decided not to linger on that thought. He took off after the little furry shape as fast as he could.

When it finally came to a stop, they had arrived in a small, torch-lit room with the bare minimum of furniture lining its walls.

"You..." Matthew panted. The thing he had been following appeared to be a cat, as he was— well, had been.

He thought the pink fur seemed familiar, but when she turned around to face him, his heart nearly exploded.

"Leila!!!" he exclaimed. He dropped to his knees and grabbed Leila, holding her close in a big hug.

"Ack!" Leila choked. "Squeezing...too hard!"

"Oops! Sorry!" Matthew apologized. He held her out before him, on the verge of tears. "I...I thought you were dead!"

"I thought you were dead!" Leila replied, nearly in tears herself.

Matthew quirked an eyebrow. "You thought I was dead? What made you think that?"

Leila glared. "Because you never wrote!"

"Oh, hehe, that..." Matthew muttered nervously. He set Leila down and explained, "See, I was staying with an old woman in her cottage, and she had very little writing utensils with which I could write to you."

Leila's eyes widened in shock. "You were staying with an old woman?!"

"What?! No, it's not what you think!" Matthew screeched. He was tired of having woman constantly misunderstanding what he was trying to say. "I was nothing but a house cat to her, honest! ...Say, what are you doing in this castle, anyway?"

"The same as you at the cottage, I guess. Lundgren found me and decided to use me as a ratter. As amusing as that is, it's awfully lonely here... And mildewy..."

Matthew suggested, "If you help me, I can get you out of here and into the lap of luxury!"

"You need my help? You've got it!" Leila accepted. "But what do you mean? I've seen that look in your eyes before. You're up to something."

"You'll see," Matthew winked. He reached into his cloak and pulled out the large book once again. "But, first things first..."

Lundgren, muttering profanities all the while, had escaped from his armour as well as the chandelier. He picked up his spear and prepared to stalk off after that meddling, transforming boy. When he spotted a figure moving in the hall in front of him, he shouted angrily and prepared to strike.

"Stop!" the figure shouted. It moved into the light, and Lundgren stopped and stared. It looked like the cat he had found to rat out vermin in his fortress, only...human.

"Leila?" he said, puzzled. He began to lower his lance, but then tensed again. "How do I know it's not just that boy again?"

"I disposed of him," Leila deadpanned. She held up an old tome. "This was on him. I believe it's yours."

"My book on shapeshifting!" Lundgren exclaimed. "What could he have been doing with it...? And I suppose you decided to use it when it came into your possession?"

"Actually, I knew that man," Leila replied. "It was simple enough for me to trick him into transforming me into a human. It's dangerous for a cat to go up against a man carrying a silver dagger or two on him, so I thought this form was better suited for combat."

"As good as he would have been willing to transform you into, I suppose," Lundgren nodded.

"He uttered some words as he bled to death," Leila snarled. She put a strong emphasis on the gory description of his alleged demise. "Your granddaughter, Lady Lyndis, is coming here with a band of mercenaries. They'll be on your doorstep in a matter of minutes."

Lundgren's eyes widened. "Call up all the soldiers you can find! I can finish them all here if I have to, but I want them slowed down before they reach the fortress. I need more time...!"

"Why not simply destroy them all by transforming into something ferocious?" Leila shrugged. She held out the tome. "Perhaps if you transformed into a lion? Not only would they be intimidated, but a lion would surely frighten their horses and have the strength to vanquish many of their troops."

"This is true..." Lundgren said thoughtfully.

Leila tried to hand the book to him. "Would you like to give it a practice?"

"I've memorized every spell in that book!" Lundgren boasted. He made a dismissive motion with his hand at the tome. "Here, I'll do it. Just watch!"

Lord Lundgren began muttering words under his breath and began to change. Leila watched in awe at the flawless transformation from man to lion. The lion was sandy yellow, and its mane a deep orange with strands of dark gray. The lion gave a mighty roar, and Leila shrank back at the intimidating sound.

She composed herself, and said, "Most impressive, milord! But, what would happen if you became out-manned out on the battlefield? How would you escape? Perhaps something swift... A deer? No; had they a decent archer, you would surely be struck down. Something small? If you were small enough, you could escape detection as well as weaponry."

"Hm..." the Lundgren-lion murmured. "Here now, I've got one. Don't you get any ideas, now."

He began to transform again, and this time he shrank down into the tiny form of a dark gray rat. As Leila watched, she smiled triumphantly.

Lundgren scurried around on the ground for a moment before he suddenly felt a pull on his tail.

The tiny rat squeaked helplessly in Matthew's hand. 

"Hurry!" he called to Leila.

Leila ran over with a bottle concealed in her own cloak. She held it open and Matthew dropped the rat inside just in time. Leila screwed the lid on tight, the two cat-people watched in amusement as the rat grew Lord Lundgren's head, in miniature.

"He dares not transform," Matthew chuckled. "He'll be crushed!"

The Lundgren rat shook its paw, and scowled with its mismatched human head. It squeaked, "You'll pay for this!"

"My third and final gift, milord!" Matthew announced, bowing deeply to the marquess. He produced the glass container from his cloak. "Rat-in-a-bottle!"

Lord Hausen stared for a moment. "Is that Lundgren?"

"The one and only," Matthew grinned proudly.

The marquess snorted. "Serves him right. So everything has been resolved now, has it? Lundgren can no longer cause any trouble, and Lyndis, you're here to stay?"

"Of course," Lyn replied, smiling at her grandfather. "We have so much catching up to do."

"Um," Matthew interrupted. "Who are they?"

He pointed to the large group of people who were standing idly in the room with them.

"Oh," Lyn realized. "Well, Serra and Erk here caught wind of what was happening, and went to fetch the others for help. Turns out you were able to handle it yourself, though."

Erk glanced over at Serra and sighed, "I'm just glad she finally put me down..."

"As for the others... These are the Pegasus Knight sisters, Florina, Fiora, and Farina. Florina's an old friend of mine."

"Um... Nice to meet you..." Florina greeted Matthew shyly.

"Those two are Rebecca and Wil. They're archers."

"Wow! So you used to be a cat, huh?" Wil asked enthusiastically. "I used to have a cat. She was named Fluffy. She got run over by a horse, though." He sniffled. "Poor Fluffy..."

Rebecca put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry your cat died, Wil..."

"What? She didn't die!" Wil exclaimed. "She just got run over by a horse is all. She was okay."

Rebecca stared at him for a moment giving a weak smile.

Lyn continued, "And that man running around over there is Sain, and the one chasing him is Kent."

"Ooh!" Sain exclaimed, running after a young maid. "So many beautiful young maidens in this castle!!"

"EEK! Werewolf!" the poor maid screamed.

"Sain, she thinks you're trying to kill her!!!" Kent shouted after his companion. He had pointed ears and a fluffy tail the same fiery red as his hair.

"And finally, this is a Sacaen swordsman who wanted to lend his aid to us. His name is—"

"Hold it!" Matthew interrupted. As Lyn motioned towards the youth clad in a blue coat and headband, with his green hair done up in a braid, the cat-man knew immediately who it was. "I believe we've already met."

The swordsman blinked. "Do I know you? ...Oh, hey, wait, I remember you! You're the one who fed me when I was starving that one time!"

"So good to see you again, Guy," Matthew greeted, a large smirk on his face. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Hm... Perhaps I should ask for a paw-rub later..."

"What?! What are you talking about?" Guy demanded.

"Well, if I recall, when I gave you that food, you said that you owed me your life."

"You were a cat!" Guy argued. "What am I supposed to do but humour a little stray cat who was offering me food? I hadn't eaten for days!"

"Well, I know for a fact that Sacaens never lie," Matthew said delinquently. "Lyndis told me so. Aaaaand..." He reached into his cloak and pulled out a slip of paper. "Behold! An oathpaper, stating that you agreed to pay me back for the food. And I counted three pieces of meat, soooo..."

"Grr... No fair!"

"Ah," Matthew sighed indulgently. He put an arm around Leila and Guy each. "I think I'm gonna be quite happy here."

"The end," Canas finished.

Nils looked puzzled. "But what happened to Guy?"

Canas looked suspiciously at Nils through his monocle. "Are you sure you've been listening to my stories?"

"Yes! Of course I have!" Nils exclaimed. "Please, Canas, I'd like to hear another one!"

"Alright." Canas flipped through the pages of the book and finally came to something. "I think you'll enjoy this one."


	6. CinderEliwood, Pt 1

"This next story," Canas explained, "is called Cinderella." 

"Cinderella? That's a funny name," commented Nils. He began to imagine other names that could have proceeded Cinder and started with E-L...

"CINDERELIWOOD!!!"

"Wha— OW!"

Eliwood lifted his head at his wicked stepsister's bellowing, but was unfortunately positioned beneath a table at the time, scrubbing the floor.

He carefully crawled out from under the table and rubbed his head. "Yes, Limstella, I'm in here."

Limstella stormed through the kitchen door and glared daggers at her impertinent slave— er, housekeeper. "And just what do you think is so funny about mixing up my laundry with my brother's?"

"Nothing! I-I..." Eliwood stammered. "I didn't mix it up, did I?"

Limstella thrust a little piece of red fabric in Eliwood's face. "I do not wear a red silk thong!!!"

"Oh..." Eliwood said sheepishly. Then he thought for a moment. "Well, if it's not yours, then whose is it?"

It was at that moment Ephidel, Eliwood's equally wicked stepbrother, stormed in behind Limstella. He took one look at the thong, and gasped. He snatched it out of his sister's grasp and sneered at them both, daring them to say a word.

Neither did.

After Ephidel was out of sight, Limstella pointed a red-painted, manicured fingernail at Eliwood. "If you ever mess up like that again, I'll rip out your pretty little red hair, strand by strand!"

Eliwood bowed his head shamefully. "Yes, Limstella..."

Limstella huffed and departed.

Eliwood sighed deeply, then snorted at the memory of Ephidel's horrified face. He chuckled and shook his head, then returned to his scrubbing of the kitchen floor. He remembered that in a few hours, he would finish cleaning the kitchen just to have to begin cooking dinner and get it all dirty again.

It was a humiliating life to lead, but Eliwood remained cheerful. In living with this family, he had been forced to do every chore in the house. He understood that his stepfather was sickly and bedridden, but he failed to understand how Ephidel and Limstella refused to do anything around the house. It was a big house, to be sure, and a daunting task. Eliwood had observed them, usually primping themselves in some form or another, like giving each other manicures, or trying on make-up. It made Eliwood cringe a little that Ephidel did this just as much as his sister, but Eliwood tried not to think about it too much. He decided to make cleaning the house into a game, seeing how many things he could get done in an hour, then try to beat his record. He resented that his stepbrother and stepsister always yelled at him, even though he had done all his tasks correctly and on time. Nonetheless, he kept a bright outward demeanor.

"CINDERELIWOOD!"

Eliwood smacked his head on the table again, and he silently cursed himself. This time, it was Ephidel.

The stepbrother gave Eliwood a cold stare from the doorway. "Father wishes to see you. Don't be all day about it! He said now!"

"Alright, I'm coming!" Eliwood snapped.

Another thing he did not appreciate was the nickname his stepbrother and stepsister had given him. CinderEliwood, for whenever he completed the task of cleaning the chimney, he was always covered in soot. His stepfather had found the handle amusing and stuck with it also.

Eliwood followed Ephidel down the plush carpeted hallways of the grand house. They stopped before the double doors that led to the bedroom of Eliwood's stepfather, Nergal.

"While I graciously accept that tone of voice," Ephidel told Eliwood in a hushed voice, "don't you dare take that tone with father! Now get in there!"

Ephidel opened the door and shoved Eliwood inside. The room was darkened, the curtains all drawn. The only light came from a single candle on the bedside table.

"Ah, you came," Nergal croaked. "Come closer, Eliwood."

Eliwood did as he was told and stood next to his stepfather. "What is it that you need from me?"

Nergal smiled, a sinister smile in Eliwood's eyes. Eliwood could see only one of his stepfather's; the other was covered by a purple scarf. Apparently, he had sustained injuries long ago in a battle. The reason he was bedridden now, however, was something different. Eliwood believed it to be an illness, as his stepsiblings insisted.

"There is no task I need you to perform for me, at this moment. I merely wished to commend you on how much you help out around here."

_Help? _Eliwood thought bitterly. _How is it help when I do everything? _But he dared not voice his opinion. "Thank you, stepfather."

"I'm impressed with how you've kept up with your work without being slowed down too much by the untimely death of your dear mother."

Eliwood winced. Did he have to bring that up? This man had married his mother many years ago, but she had passed away more recently, murdered by thieves. Memories of his father were few.

"Now," Nergal said with another twisted smile. "You go on and finish up your work."

Eliwood tried to snap out of his funk and smiled politely. He departed the bedroom, finding it difficult to keep that cheery outward demeanor alive.

The next morning, Eliwood was sweeping the front hall when there was a knocking on the door.

"CINDERELIWOOD!" Ephidel's voice rang out from somewhere. "ANSWER THE DAMN DOOR!"

"Oh, KAY!" Eliwood screamed back. He propped his broom upon the staircase bannister and answered the door, beaming politely.

The man at the door had slightly wavy, long black hair, with an unearthly lustre that matched that of his porcelain skin. His eyes were glassy and golden, and his lips blood red. He wore a high-collared, red embroidered suit with a dark hooded cloak over it.

"Hello, my name is Denning. This is a message from Lord Hausen. He will be holding a ball at Castle Caelin five days from now, and every eligible bachelor across the land is to attend. This is a message from Lord Hausen. He will be holding a ball at Castle Caelin five days from now, and every eligible bachelor across the land is to attend. This is a message from Lord Hausen..."

Eliwood stared at the delivery puppet in awe. His eyes did not move, he merely stood perfectly still and spoke as if his very voice was a recording. Eliwood waved his hand in front of Denning's eyes. No reaction.

"Um..." Eliwood mumbled. He turned and shouted into the house, "It's for you!"

"And he's been saying that the whole time?" Limstella demanded. Eliwood nodded.

"He will be holding a ball at Castle Caelin..."

Ephidel began smashing Denning over the head with his fist repeatedly. "I think he's broken."

"This is a message fr... This is a message fr... This is a message fr..."

"Ephidel, cut it out!" Limstella scolded. She pulled Ephidel away from the puppet, and Denning continued speaking normally.

"Thank you very much!" Limstella said loudly and clearly. "We get it!"

Denning suddenly stopped in the middle of his message. "Have a nice day." He turned and walked away.

"Interesting..." Eliwood muttered.

"Omigawd!" Ephidel piped happily. "Can you believe it? There's going to be a ball at Castle Caelin! And every eligible bachelor in the land is to attend. That's me."

"Me, too!" Eliwood exclaimed.

Ephidel and Limstella stared at him like he had a third arm. Ephidel sneered, "You? That's rich! You wouldn't attract flies if you were covered in honey!"

"Yes I would!" Eliwood argued. "I did last week, when I accidentally dropped the honey jar on the floor and didn't have anything to clean it up with..."

"I have an idea," a voice said from the stairs. It was Nergal. "If CinderEliwood can complete his chores, clean this house top to bottom in time for the ball, then he may attend."

"Father!" Ephidel and Limstella cried in unison. They shoved past Eliwood and ran to meet Nergal, demanding of him whether he felt alright and if he should be out of bed.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Nergal assured them.

"Clean the whole house?" Eliwood repeated, slumping.

"Yes, make him finish the whole week's chores!" Ephidel agreed.

"And you have to help us prepare for the ball, too!" Limstella added.

"Otherwise," Nergal finished, "No ball for you."

Eliwood thought for a moment, then steeled himself, squaring his shoulders. "I'll do it! I'll show you I can do it! I'll have every single possible chore in this house done in time for the ball."

"Very good," Nergal accepted. "Come Ephidel, Limstella. We need to decide what you're going to wear."

Eliwood ran off to begin right away on his chores. Ephidel grasped his father's arm and protested, "I don't want him going with us! He'll ruin everything!" 

"What makes you think he'll finish in time?" Nergal asked with his sinister smile. "Besides, he has nothing decent to wear."

"Yeah, that's right!" Limstella agreed. "All the clothes he has are dirty rags he uses to clean the house in. Nothing fit for a ball, that's for sure."

"Hehe. Stupid CinderEliwood," Ephidel chuckled. "I'll have to get him to paint my nails later."

For the next five days, Eliwood worked like he'd never worked before. By the morning of the fifth day, every toilet had been scrubbed a pristine white, and every floor waxed to the slipperiness of a skating rink.

"CINDERELIWOOD!"

Ephidel stomped down the stairs to see Eliwood dancing merrily with a floor buffer in the front hall, giving the floor an unearthly sheen.

"Stop that pansy dancing at once and come do my nails again! I want black this time."

Eliwood sighed and turned off the floor buffer. For the past five days, Ephidel had been unusually fickle, demanding that Eliwood paint his nails a different colour. He thought perhaps Ephidel was trying to give him more chores than he could handle, but it was to no avail. The entire house was spotless, and Eliwood still had the whole day.

Ephidel led the way to his room, sitting purposefully at a table and holding his hand out. Eliwood sat down across from him, and upturned the bottle of polish remover over a cotton ball, and began stripping Ephidel's nails of their current hot pink.

"You seem chipper," Ephidel commented snidely. "Fancy yourself ready to go to the ball tonight?"

"I sure do!" Eliwood beamed. "I've finished everything. I've got all day to prepare."

Ephidel snorted. "I see. I'm going to the ball in that black and red embroidered suit, with the violet cloak. That's why I wanted my nails black. What are YOU wearing?"

Eliwood thought for a moment. "Well, I still have to pick something out."

"Hmph. Good luck," Ephidel bid sarcastically.

When Eliwood had finished Ephidel's nails, Ephidel inspected the new black polish.

"Excellent work, as usual," he commended. He stood up in a flourish, and one arm waved out and struck a container of powder. A crashed to the floor along with the puff, spilling the fine white powder all over the carpet.

"Aww..." Eliwood groaned.

"Oops, clumsy me!" Ephidel laughed. "Clean that up, won't you, dear?" He exited the room, blowing on his nails all the way.

Eliwood grabbed a still-damp rag from his belt and began wiping the powder out of the carpet. He knew that Ephidel did that on purpose, so he ignored some of the powder that got scrubbed into the individual strands.

Besides, now was his chance. Ephidel had made the unwise choice of leaving Eliwood alone in the wicked stepbrother's room, with complete access to his entire wardrobe. Eliwood knew full well that he had nothing proper to wear to a ball at Castle Caelin, but he knew that Ephidel would.

Eliwood made his way over to the walk-in closet and began pawing through all of the outfits hung there. Much to his distress, he discovered a strapless red-sequined gown. He made a face and quickly replaced it, hoping that Limstella kept some of her clothes in here.

Finally, he found it, the outfit he was looking for. It was a long, blue, gold-trimmed coat, along with a pair of white breeches. Eliwood smiled triumphantly and spirited the garments away.

Upon returning to his own chamber, a lonely, barren room at the top of a tower, Eliwood set to work at modifying the coat to the best of his ability. Ephidel had a lot of clothes, and he would never know that this coat was actually his. Eliwood gathered up all the sewing materials he possessed and got to work pulling out some of the embroidery. He hemmed the pants a bit, and cut about five gold buttons off each of the shirt cuffs.

Satisfied, Eliwood put the coat and breeches away and went searching through the large metal trunk in the corner. It was one of the few possessions that Eliwood had managed to keep after his stepfamily began helping themselves to everything he and his parents owned. The trunk contained a few items that his mother and father once possessed, and there was one item that he knew would be perfect for the occasion. A long blue and red cape, once belonging to his father. It was worn out a little along the edges, but mothballs had kept it in relatively good repair. He also found a pair of blue boots that would match the outfit as well, and a gold diadem. He hid everything as well as he could, and departed to look for any finishing touches to his chores.

"I can't believe he actually finished," Limstella scoffed. "That guy needs a hobby, I swear."

"I'm more worried about what he'll be wearing," Ephidel said, brows knitted. "It would be embarrassing to have some little waif in rags following us around. Father, make him take another carriage! I wouldn't be caught dead hanging around him!"

"That would be extra fare," Nergal said tersely. "I'll not be spending more money on an extra carriage for him."

"Good point," Ephidel nodded.

Eliwood came down the stairs at that point, dressed in his new outfit. Even Ephidel had to admit, he looked regally splendid in the blue coat with gold trimming. The blue coat and gold trimming he could almost swear belonged to him.

"Ah, I see you found something decent to wear," Nergal said gently, that slippery smile growing on his ancient face once again.

Ephidel scowled, his hands twitching. He walked up to the foot of the stairs, blocking Eliwood from advancing.

"That's. My. Coat."

"No, it's not!" Eliwood protested. "This belonged to my father! Get out of my way!"

"You arrogant little wretch!" Ephidel screamed. He grabbed Eliwood by the collar and swung him backwards. Eliwood stumbled backwards, thrown off balance, as Ephidel conjured a ball of fire. It exploded at Eliwood's feet, pelting him with a sweltering heat, ruining much of the bottom part of his outfit.

Eliwood cried out, and before he had the chance to recover, Limstella extended her palm at Eliwood, showering him with deadly shards of ice and biting wind. Eliwood was thrown into the wall, his cape and coat reduced to tatters. He fell to the floor, hunched over in pain.

"Don't you ever touch my clothes again!" Ephidel shouted. He kicked Eliwood in the side, causing him to scream, clutching his stomach and writhing in pain. He finally managed to climb to his feet, and ran as fast as he could towards the courtyard.

"Come, children," Nergal beckoned, as if nothing had happened. "The carriage is waiting for us."

"The nerve of that little..." Ephidel muttered. He had not taken three steps to the door when he suddenly lost his footing and went careening to the floor.

"Smooth move," Limstella congratulated him.

"The floor is slippery!" Ephidel whined in retort. "It's your fault!"

"My ice didn't touch the floor!" Limstella defended. She turned and stormed towards the door, slipping on the freshly waxed floor as well and landing with a distinct thud.

Nergal closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.

Eliwood had fled to the courtyard. He now knelt next to the fountain, watching listlessly as his tears disturbed the surface of the water. His back stung from the freezing shards of ice, and his father's cape had been all but ruined. And to top it all off, he would never go to the Castle Caelin ball now, even after having worked extra hard cleaning every last corner of the giant house. He thought it might be nice to stick his head beneath the water and stay there.

His thoughts were disturbed when it felt like something touched the top of his head, like a drop of water. He looked up, determining that with his luck, it had started raining. But the sky was clear, not a cloud in sight. And the fountain was turned off after dark.

Another thing like a drop of water fell on his hand, and he was surprised to find a tiny yellow spark resting there. He inspected it for a moment, but it soon faded out and vanished. He looked up once again, and there in the sky came hundreds of these little sparks, falling like snow. He stood up and watched the phenomenon unfold.

More little sparks began to fall on a spot before him, slowly turning into a solid figure of light. When the light subsided, there was only a bearded man left standing there, dressed in armor with gossamer wings and carrying a wand.

The man smiled confidently at Eliwood, the snow of sparks disappearing all together. It suddenly dawned on Eliwood that a strange man had just appeared out of nowhere, and he stumbled back and sat on the edge of the fountain.

"Wh-who are you?!" Eliwood demanded.

"Why, Eliwood," the man chided. "You don't know me? It is I, your fairy godfather. But please, call me Marcus."

"Um, n-nice to meet you," Eliwood stammered. He stood and tentatively shook Marcus's outstretched hand. "But, why are you here?"

"Whenever you're at your wit's end, your fairy godfather shall appear and mend," Marcus replied poetically. "I'm here to make all your dreams come true."

"You can do that?" Eliwood asked in awe.

"But of course! Just watch." Marcus inspected Eliwood. "Hm... Well, for starters, we can't have you going to the ball in those. And you must be a frightful mess from those magic spells."

"My back is killing me..." Eliwood confirmed.

"Then be healed, m'boy!" Marcus cried boisterously. "And try this little number on for size!"

Marcus laughed heartily and waved the black wand in his hand, leaving a trail of more yellow sparks. Eliwood suddenly felt a pleasantly cool sensation all over his body, and the pain in his back disappeared. A great deal of larger sparks shot up from the ground, encompassing his body entirely. When they disappeared, Eliwood looked down to see what they had done. He was amazed to see that he was now wearing a stylish white embroidered suit. His cape had been restored as good as new, and the blue had been replaced with the same white as his suit.

"This is great!" Eliwood exclaimed. "A little stiff, but I'll manage. This is just what I needed to go to the ball!" His smile faltered. "But, how am I going to get there? I don't have money for carriage fare..."

"That's what I'm here for!" Marcus replied. "I'll conjure you your very own coach."

"My own coach! Wow!" Eliwood cried excitedly. "I'll be travelling in high style!"

Marcus waved the wand once again, and the sound of a horn honking could be heard on the road outside the courtyard. A large bus pulled up at the gates.

"A Greyhound?" Eliwood guessed, tilting his head.

"The very finest coach!" Marcus assured him. He gave him a pat on the back. "Now, go on, and have fun!"

"I will, Marcus!" Eliwood said, running for the bus. "Thank you so much!"

"But just remember this!" Marcus called out after him. "The magic I've bestowed upon you will dispel on the stroke of midnight! The clothes I've given you, and that coach. If you don't want to get caught, you'd best leave before then!"

"Can do!" Eliwood agreed. He waved and hopped aboard the bus.

Marcus waved back, and disappeared in a flurry of sparks.

Eliwood climbed up the steps and greeted the bus driver, a young man with shaggy green hair.

"Hiya, I'm Lowen," the bus driver greeted back. "I'll be driving you to Castle Caelin tonight. I hope your ride is a comfortable one."

"Thanks, Lowen!" Eliwood exclaimed. He was thrilled beyond imagining.

He sat down in one of the seats in the middle of the bus. There were no other passengers, so he had his pick.

"Good evening, and welcome aboard Pherae Bus Lines!" a woman with long blue hair said cheerfully into a microphone. "My name is Isadora, and I'll be your attendant."

"Hi, Isadora!" Eliwood greeted.

"Please fasten your seatbelts as shown on the diagram," Isadora continued. "Should there be an emergency, exits are located here, here, and here. Tonight's movie will be CasaBlackFang, starring Bartre Bogart and Karla Burgman. Please enjoy your ride."

Eliwood spent most of the trip watching the famed classic CasaBlackFang.

"Of all bars in world," Bartre said on the screen as Karel played "Heart and Soul" in the background, "Why me have to walk in hers? BLARG!"

"Coffee, tea, popcorn, peanuts," a man said, wheeling a tray down the aisle.

"I'll take some popcorn!" Eliwood exclaimed. The blonde man handed him a bag of popcorn, and Eliwood inspected the name tag on his shirt. "Thanks very much...Harken. Hey, wait a second, why are you serving food on coach?"

"Remember what Marcus said," Harken chided, waving a finger. "The very finest coach."

Eliwood smiled and nodded, and Harken continued on his rounds, even though there were no other passengers.

"Karel, this could be start of beautiful friendship."

"Die."

"BLARG!"

Eliwood sat enthralled by the movie, munching away on popcorn. By the time it finished, they had arrived at Castle Caelin.

"Thank you for choosing Pherae Bus Lines," Isadora piped. "Please exit the vehicle in an orderly fashion."

Eliwood thanked them all profusely and went skipping merrily to the castle. He determined that it was a masked ball, as he was handed a white mask at the door by a servant. For this he was thankful. Even though the mask really only covered his eyes, anything to keep his stepkin guessing was a good thing.

He walked out into the ballroom and marvelled at all the dancing couples. A band was playing a slow waltz. Eliwood tried to blend in with the crowds, attempting to spot his stepkin in order to stay away from them. In his searching, his eyes fell upon the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She appeared to be partly Sacaen in her heritage, with long hunter green hair in a high ponytail and a slitted blue dress. Her striking visage and the curve of her thigh made Eliwood's heart beat faster, and felt the room suddenly become a little too close to bear. With all the might of his will, he turned away, only to spot his stepkin across the room.

They appeared to be speaking among one another, straightening Ephidel's clothes every so often. He determined that that lout Ephidel was going to try and woo the girl of Eliwood's dreams.

"Don't make a fool of yourself," Nergal ordered.

"Yeah, you do it so well," Limstella agreed.

"Please, I'm as graceful as any feline," Ephidel countered calmly.

"More like fe_male_," Limstella muttered.

Ephidel glared. "Besides, it won't take much. No woman can resist my charm. Just look at this hair. These cherry-red lips."

"To go with your cherry-red eye shadow," Limstella added.

"It's a statement, okay?!" Ephidel snapped.

Nergal grasped Ephidel's chin to make his son look at him. "This is your moment, son. If you can get the Lady Lyndis to marry you, we'll rich, famous, and in complete control of Caelin. You do understand the consequences if you fail, right?"

"You throw me out of the house and make me live in a cardboard box?" Ephidel gulped.

"Clever boy," Nergal grinned wickedly.

Ephidel puffed out his chest and prepared to greet the lady.

Limstella came up behind him and taunted, "You heard father. Don't mess up. Not only will you be living in a box, but I'll snap all of your eyeliner pencils in two, got it?!"

Ephidel snorted and crossed his arms arrogantly. "I think you're just jealous."

"And I think your thong's on too tight," Limstella retorted. She gave Ephidel a shove in the direction of Lady Lyndis.

Lyn was thoroughly bored. None of the suitors lined up before her were of interest, and many were just pigs. One had a giant nose and sounded like a dying yak; one was a fat, balding old man, and whatever hair he did have was extremely greasy; and one was a weasel of a man who spoke in a hiss and tried to feel her up. He had been carried off by several healers.

She wondered why her grandfather had decided that this was a good idea. Lyn was not particularly interested in finding a husband; she would rather find a good sparring partner, someone she could be friends with. If the trends of that night continued, she would have no luck.

The next man approaching her did not look any more promising than the last. He was handsome, no question, with slightly curly black hair in a low ponytail, and quite tall. However, his ghostly pale complexion, golden eyes and— worst of all, make-up— made her recoil slightly.

"Good evening, milady," he said smoothly. He took her hand and kissed it. "My name is Ephidel."

"Um, good evening," Lyn greeted. "Lyndis. ...So. Where are you from?"

"Pherae," Ephidel replied.

"Ah," Lyn said, nodding. There was an awkward silence. Lyn looked down, and noticed that Ephidel's boots had an unusually high heel. "I-I like your boots. I'm wearing high-heeled shoes tonight, and they're killing me. I have no idea how to walk in these things."

"It's quite simple, actually," Ephidel enthused. He began pulling off on of his boots. "Here, hand them over." Limstella clutched the sides of her head.

Limstella clutched the sides of her head. "What the hell is he DOING?!"

"Like this, see? Heel, toe, heel, toe, heel, toe."

Lyn watched carefully as Ephidel took six steps in her high heels with perfect poise.

"I'm impressed," Lyn admitted. "The chancellor is always telling me I need to learn proper manners to be a lady. I don't know if I can handle this whole thing..."

"I'm sure you can manage," Ephidel assured her. He did a little turn. "Hell, I'm starting to think I could be a lady!"

"Uh...huh," Lyn said politely, forcing a smile. She pivoted her gaze around the room to see how many people were staring, when her eyes fell upon the handsomest man she had ever seen. He wore a charming white embroidered suit with a dashing white and red cape. He had a head of gorgeous hair, red, like the flames of passion—! She shook her head. She was getting a little ahead of herself.

"Here you go," Ephidel said, interrupting her little fantasy. She accepted her high heels back with a smile.

After Ephidel replaced his own shoes, he said, "Now, what were we talking about before— hm?"

Lyn was not listening. She had strolled off, leaving him to stare after her. She approached the man with red hair.

"I don't believe we've met."

The man looked at her, startled. He paused for a moment before saying, "No, I don't believe we have."

"Care to dance?" Lyn offered. She held her hand out to him. He stared at the limb for a moment before smiling and accepting her offer.

"You idiot!" Limstella raged when Ephidel returned. She held a hand to her ear and began sarcastically, "Oh, oh, what's that sound? I believe it's the snapping of Midnight Magic #25!"

"No! Not Midnight Magic!" Ephidel pleaded.

"You taught her to walk in high heels?!" Nergal exclaimed in disbelief. "Yes, Ephidel, that's VERY attractive, a man who thinks he can be a lady."

"Chicks dig that these days!" Ephidel defended himself tearfully.

Nergal watched as Lyndis danced with some other man. He growled, "Well, we've blown our chance now. How disappointing..."

He thought his eyes— or eye, as it were— was playing tricks on him. From the back, he could have sworn the man dancing with the lady was Eliwood. He had that same flaming red hair. But the outfit, he had never seen before, and he could not fathom where Eliwood would have found anything like it, or how he could have gotten to the ball. From the front, the mask he wore made it was difficult to identify the face behind it. Nergal finally could no longer stand the sight of this man. There was no mistaking; it HAD to be Eliwood. His gnarled old fingers clawed, Nergal took a step in the direction of the dance floor.

"The buffet is open!" a voice called from a corner of the room.

A sudden crush of bodies making a beeline for the buffet created a wall in front of Nergal, blocking his view and his advance.

"Um, excuse... Excuse me!"

"Back of the line, pops!"

Nergal growled. He quivered with rage, releasing a black aura around his body. He suddenly realized what he was doing, and tried to calm himself, as to not be detected. He smoothed out his robes and stalked off in search of another way to reach Eliwood.

"F-father?" Ephidel called after him. "Where are you going?"

"Wait," Limstella said, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "Maybe we should just go home."

Ephidel nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

Marquess Caelin sat in the balcony above the ballroom, watching the ball take place.

He sighed. "Lyndis does not appear taken with any of the men that have attended the ball. I shall never find a suitable companion for my granddaughter."

"Cheer up, milord," the Grand Duke Canas told the marquess. "Why, just look over there. I do believe that is the Lady Lyndis dancing with a dashing red-haired boy."

"What?!" Hausen exclaimed. "Let me see!"

He snatched Canas's monocle and dragged the duke over to the edge of the railing, where the marquess held the lens over his eye.

"Good gracious, it's true!" Hausen exclaimed. "Whoopee!"

He threw his hands up in the air triumphantly, and Canas scrambled to rescue his monocle.

"It is indeed wonderful news, milord," Canas concurred, replacing the monocle in his right eye.

"I want you to go down there and make certain that they are not disturbed," Lord Hausen commanded with a stern glance. "Understand?"

"Yes sir, milord!" Canas complied cheerily.

_I'm in heaven_, Eliwood thought. _I've died and gone to heaven._

This was all Eliwood could think of as he danced with the girl of his dreams. They danced out of the ballroom and out onto a stone balcony looking out over the courtyard. Eliwood thanked every god, saint and devil that he had not tripped or stomped on her foot.

"I can't let this go unsaid for any longer," Lyn spoke suddenly, snapping Eliwood out of his reverie. "I've never seen violet eyes such as yours. They're quite beautiful."

"Violet?" Eliwood repeated. They had stopped dancing for a moment, and Eliwood sidled over to a door column with a reflective surface. His eyes were no longer their normal blue, but a deep violet. It must have been another gift from Marcus.

"Ah, of course they're violet!" Eliwood exclaimed quickly. "They've always been violet! Haha! Yes..."

Lyn stared for a moment, then smiled. She turned and leaned on the balcony railing. "Isn't the courtyard lovely? I love nature. I do miss the plains, though..."

"I knew it," Eliwood said as he joined her. "So you're Sacaen?"

"Only partly," she replied.

"Well, as lovely as the courtyard may be," Eliwood said, taking her hands in his own, "It pales to the loveliness up here on this balcony."

"That's a bit concei— Oh, you mean me! You flatter me, kind sir..."

Eliwood leaned in ever closer to Lyn, his heart pounding in anticipation. He closed his eyes, and— he heard the large bell in the clock tower sound.

"Um, hold that thought," he said. He rushed over to the other side of the balcony and leaned over the railing, straining to see the clock tower. Midnight.

"How long were we dancing?!" he exclaimed. "I'm really, really sorry, but I have to go."

"Go? Why?" Lyn demanded.

"I just do!" Eliwood replied, running back into the palace and towards the exit. "I'm so terribly sorry!"

"Wait! Please, just wait for a moment!" Lyn pleaded. "I don't even know your name!"

Eliwood did not hear, for he was already sprinting down the staircase to the road. It hit him then just how close he had come to falling in love— strike that, he was in love— until it was ruined by the stroke of midnight. Tears welled up in his eyes, obscuring his vision. He rubbed at his right eye, and flinched when he felt a sudden irritation. He shook out his head and his hand and continued on down the stairs to where the coach was waiting.

"He's getting away!" Lyn shouted. "Grand Duke! After him!"

"Deploy the mounted units!" Canas commanded.

The door to the coach opened, and Lowen beckoned Eliwood come. "Hurry! Get inside!"

Eliwood leapt into the bus, and the vehicle took off without a moment to spare. Eliwood heard as the clock tower tolled his veritable doom, seeming to laugh at him twelve times over. The peals were accompanied by the pounding of hooves of a pair of cavaliers. Three Pegasus knights took off into the night sky.

Lowen speeded the bus as fast as he could down the road. The peals from the clock tower began to fade into the distance, but there was no mistaking when the last one came. Eliwood watched as the sides of the bus became blurry, as if turning into wind. They soon melted entirely, along with everything else in the bus, and disappeared in a cloud of mist. Eliwood, Lowen, Isadora and Harken suddenly stopped in mid-air and fell to the ground.

"Run away!" Lowen shouted. The three scattered off into the forest, and Eliwood ducked into the brush on the other side of the road. He crawled away deeper into the trees, not in the least concerned about the already tattered clothing that he was wearing again.

The two cavaliers stopped just beyond where Eliwood sat stiffly up against a tree, afraid to make a move or even breathe. He could not allow them to take him back. He could not allow Lyn to see him like this, and if his stepkin were still there...

Eliwood observed the cavaliers from a distance as they looked about the forest.

_Werewolves on horseback? _Eliwood thought. _That seems a bit much... It's not my fault I had to leave..._

He tried to carefully back away from the road. With any luck, he could escape back home without being detected. Luck was not on his side, however, when his hand snapped a tiny branch beneath it.

A red-headed werewolf cavalier on the road twitched an ear in his direction. Eliwood sat perfectly still as the cavalier searched the brush for the source of the noise. Eliwood could have damned his flaming red hair at that point.

"He's not here," the other, brunette werewolf cavalier said. "And that coach has vanished."

"Let's return," the red-headed one said to the other. "The Peg Knights will have an easier time of sweeping the forest anyway. If the coach is gone, we're of little use here."

Eliwood started breathing again as he heard the pounding of hooves fade away back down the road. But now he had something else to worry about. There were Peg Knights in the sky looking for him.

He gathered that if he remained in the forest for as long as he could while returning home, he could escape detection. Besides, the way he was dressed now, he would never be mistaken for the rich young noble the beautiful Lyndis had danced with at the ball.


	7. CinderEliwood, Pt 2

"You have been specially selected by the Lady Lyndis to undertake this mission to seek out the mystery man from the ball last night!" Wallace boomed at the line of soldiers before him. "Should you choose to accept this mission and not run home, cryin' to yo' mama, you will travel to the outer reaches of this kingdom to find that young man! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" the line shouted.

Hector leaned over to Oswin. "So, how's that, er, egg problem?"

"I'd, uh, really rather not talk about that right now," Oswin whispered back. "I just passed a huge one this morning. It was so big I thought I was going to break my a—"

"Ask any questions you may have before we depart!" Wallace ordered. He strode over to Hector. "And who, may I ask, are you, sir?"

"Why, I'm Hector," Hector replied, running a hand through his hair. "The handsome woodsman."

"I see," Wallace said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. He boomed, "As for the rest of you, I will now call the role! PEG KNIGHT SISTERS!"

"Sir, yes, sir!"

"WIL!"

"Yes, sir! Sir! Yes! Um, sir...!"

"REBECCA!"

"Present!"

"Presents?! Where?!"

"Wil, no speaking unless you are spoken to!"

"Yes, sir! Sorry, sir! ...Sir!"

"Alright!" Wallace shouted. "MOOOOOOOOOOVE OUT!"

"Was that supposed to be a joke about how he used to be a cow?" Rebecca wondered.

"No talking!" Wallace ordered.

"CINDERELIWOOD!!!"

"Yes, Ephidel?" he sighed.

"There's a wretched smell coming from the fireplace. Go clean it."

"Yes, Ephidel. ...OUCH!"

Ephidel slapped his own forehead. "Put out the fire first, you moron!"

Eliwood doused the fire and started scrubbing out the interior of the fireplace. "So how did the ball go last night?"

"Abysmal!" Limstella exclaimed, entering the room. "You won't believe what he did to Lady Lyndis!"

"She asked for my help, and she got it," Ephidel countered primly. "I can't help it if I know more about being a lady than she does."

"You know, most men would have simply complimented her," Limstella mused. "Like the length or colour of her hair, or the dress that she wore. You dolt, you had such a good chance! What with that adorable lock of hair of yours."

"I styled it myself," Ephidel beamed, twirling said lock around an index finger.

"Who did she wind up with?" Eliwood inquired, still facing the fireplace.

"What's it matter to you?" Ephidel sneered.

Eliwood replied innocently, "Simply curious."

Ephidel snorted. "Well, if you must know, it was some little snot with red hair and violet eyes. He had some white suit and a white and red cape."

Eliwood froze in mid-scrub. _No! They mustn't know it was me!_

Ephidel and Limstella stared at their stepbrother curiously.

Limstella leaned over to Ephidel and whispered, "Why isn't he moving?"

Ephidel rose from his chair and strode over to Eliwood. He inspected his stepbrother for a moment, waving a hand in front of his face. Eliwood remained frozen. Carefully, Ephidel pulled the sponge out of Eliwood's hand. Still no reaction. Ephidel grinned wickedly and squeezed the sponge over Eliwood's head.

"Gah!" Eliwood cried.

"Finally, you elicit a response," Ephidel congratulated sarcastically. He dropped the still damp sponge on Eliwood's head. "Father will be proud."

The siblings laughed and exited the room while Eliwood grabbed the sponge off his head and thrust it back into the water. He ran a hand through his sopping wet hair.

"Ew," he murmured. "Bucket water..."

He continued scrubbing the fireplace, but his mind was definitely elsewhere. Ephidel and Limstella were not exhibiting any signs of having recognizing him at the ball, but Nergal... He was a wise old man, and if he knew it really was Eliwood dancing with Lyndis...

"CINDERELIWOOD! DOOR!"

"But I'm not done the fireplace yet!" Eliwood shouted back.

"Do it later! Do this now!"

"Alright-y," Eliwood shrugged.

"Hello, my name is Denning. This is a message from Lord Hausen. The Honorable Grand Duke Canas will be travelling to the home of every eligible bachelor in the land in order to track down the mystery man who attended last evening's ball at Castle Caelin and danced with the Lady Lyndis. This is a message from Lord Hausen. The Honorable Grand Duke Canas..." 

"It's the delivery puppet again," Limstella said, staring at Denning along with Eliwood and Ephidel. "I wonder what would happen if I poked him?"

To test out her theory, he stood directly in front of him and started poking him between the eyes. As she continued poking, she felt a rather friendly hand creep around to her backside.

She let out a scream and slapped Denning across the face. She sprinted back inside and grasped Ephidel's arm, using her brother as a shield.

Denning, a large grin on his otherwise emotionless face, concluded, "Have a nice day."

Limstella stuck her head out the door as Denning departed and shook her fist menacingly. "PERVERT!"

"Frankly, I think you sort of had it coming," Ephidel said matter-of-factly.

"You were the one who smashed him over the head last time he was here!" Limstella raged. "How about I show you what YOU have coming?!"

"EEK!" Ephidel squealed as his sister started chasing him around the vestibule.

"Children!" Nergal scolded, clapping his hands to grab their attention. "Stop that at once!"

Limstella released Ephidel's ponytail and they replied in unison, "Yes, father..."

"Now is not the time for childish bickering," Nergal continued, coming all the way down the stairs. "You must prepare yourself for the arrival of the Grand Duke. Make yourselves presentable; especially you, Ephidel!"

"You know what this means?" Limstella exclaimed, suddenly wide-eyed and ecstatic.

"Make-over time!" Ephidel cried. He and Limstella clasped hands and jumped up and down excitedly.

"Don't just stand there like an imbecile, CinderEliwood!" Nergal snapped. "Help your brother and sister prepare for the Grand Duke!"

"Yes, prepare..." Eliwood repeated. He strode up the staircase, as if in a daze, not touching the floor at all. "Prepare for the Grand Duke..."

The three watched as he seemed to float up the stairs.

"What's with that dopey grin?" Ephidel demanded.

Nergal glared after Eliwood suspiciously. "Go prepare yourselves for the moment. I'll attend to this..."

He silently followed Eliwood up to his chamber at the top of a tower. Eliwood had an unusual spring in his step, and in his dreamy state appeared to be dancing. He was humming a tune that Nergal found familiar; he had heard it the night before at the ball.

Eliwood entered his room and began to dry his hair off with an old, discarded shirt. He scarcely noticed as Nergal stopped in the doorway and pulled the key out of the lock from the inside. 

The metallic key glinted in the sunlight entering through the tiny window, and finally caught Eliwood's attention. But it was too late. He cried out and ran for the door, but Nergal slammed it shut before he could reach it.

"Damn it, open the door!" Eliwood shouted. "You can't keep me locked in here! You can't! Give back that key! Open the door!"

"You're a useless little wretch, and always have been!" Nergal sneered through the door. "We'll be living in Castle Caelin soon enough while you rot away in this house, so I suppose there's no harm in finally telling you the truth."

"Th-the truth?"

"I killed your father, and your mother after him. A useless bunch, the lot of you!"

"No..." Eliwood murmured. He heard Nergal's footsteps fade away down the stairs. "No! No! You heartless bastard! I'll kill you! I swear, with my own hands, I'll kill you! Murderer! Murderer..."

He collapsed to his knees, sobbing. Then, suddenly, he was overcome by a blinding hatred. He dried his eyes roughly, feeling that same twinge that he had felt the night before. He rushed over to his mirror and looked at his eyes. While his right eye was still blue, his left eye was the same violet it had been the night before.

"Marcus..." he mumbled. "Thank you!"

He immediately began searching every corner of his chamber for any scraps of fabric he could get his hands on. He began tying them together, one after another, forming a make-shift rope.

"I will not be denied love for any longer!"

"Honorable Grand Duke," Nergal greeted, bowing deeply. "It is a pleasure to have you in our humble abode. I am Lord Nergal, and these are my son and daughter, Ephidel and Limstella."

Canas nodded curtly in reply. He yawned once, exhausted from travelling all day and much of the early morning.

He entered the house and unrolled a piece of parchment. He cleared his throat and announced, "The Marquess Caelin, Lord Hausen, has issued an order that the Grand Duke Canas (that's me) is to visit every household in the territory in which lives an eligible bachelor. Last evening at the ball held at Castle Caelin, the Lady Lyndis met and danced with a mysterious man who fled before his identity was revealed. The only clue as to the man's identity is a single contact lens found to have been dropped by him." Canas opened a small round container to reveal a tiny, curved lens sitting in a liquid. "The man whose eyes become violet upon placing this upon one shall marry the Lady Lyndis."

"Go on, Ephidel," Nergal urged. "Try it on."

"Ew!" Ephidel moaned. "How many people's eyes has that thing been on?!"

"Don't worry," Canas assured him. "The lens is sterilized after every house."

"Oh. Okay then," Ephidel sniffed. He used a fingertip to pluck the lens out of its container. He looked at it nervously, his hand pausing just before his face.

"Just put it in already!" Limstella sighed exasperatedly.

"I hate contact lenses!" Ephidel whined.

"Just throw your head back and stick the thing in!" Limstella said.

"I thought I was supposed to lean forward..."

"Lean wherever the hell you want, just do it!"

Ephidel tried to put in the contact lens. "I keep blinking! I can't do it!"

"Hand it over here!" Limstella ordered tersely. She placed the lens on her own fingertip and forced Ephidel's right eye open.

"Ow! My eyelids!"

"Hold still! And stop moving your eyes around!"

"Ow! My eye!"

"There."

Limstella backed away and Ephidel remained with his right eye screwed shut.

"My eye itches. How can your eye itch?"

"Well, let's see it," Canas said.

Ephidel blinked several times, and finally managed to open his eyes completely.

"Orange..." Canas mumbled. "Interesting..."

"Uh, there must be some mistake," Nergal insisted. "Our Ephidel is most certainly the one who danced with the Lady Lyndis. Go on, Ephidel, tell him how magical an evening it was!"

"Magical! Ever so magical!" Ephidel agreed, nodding fervently.

"I had my doubts from the beginning," Canas said. He made a motion with his hand, indicating he wanted the lens back. Ephidel, wincing, carefully pulled it out and put it back into the sterilizing liquid. "The man who danced with Lady Lyndis had bright red hair."

Nergal very nearly choked.

"But, Ephidel likes to dye his hair all the time!" Limstella piped up. "Isn't that right?"

"Yes!" Ephidel agreed, nodding fervently again. "It was red just last night! Last week, I was a blonde!"

"Yes, I'm sure you were..." Canas muttered. His voice returned to normal as he turned to Nergal. "So, there are no other young men in this household?"

"Um, no not one. But, please," Nergal pleaded. "There must be some way... I'm sure Ephidel is the one! Please stay!"

"I'm sorry, milord, but there are a great deal of houses left to visit today," Canas declined. "If there are no other young men in this house, I bid you good day."

"Wait! There must be some—"

"Stop!" Eliwood cried. He burst through the front doors, panting.

"How did you get out of your chamber?!" Nergal demanded furiously.

Canas gasped. "You... It's you! You're the one Lady Lyndis danced with at the ball last night!"

"B-b-but he didn't even go to the ball!" Ephidel cried.

"Nonsense, I know he is the one!" Canas exclaimed. "Please, young man, do me the favour of trying on this contact lens..."

Nergal's ancient face twisted into a bitter grimace. Then he got an idea. Just as Canas stepped on the very edge of the vestibule rug, Nergal placed his own foot on the other end and pulled back.

Canas tripped, sending the lens as well as most of the liquid spilling to the floor. He managed to catch himself before he, too, went careening to the floor, but his other foot stepped on the most inopportune spot.

The Grand Duke cried out and fell to his knees, staring in horror at the small mess. The contact lens had been ripped in half. Nergal smiled triumphantly.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Canas moaned. "This is... This is terrible! The marquess... What will he do to me?!"

"I think I have a way to solve your problem," Eliwood spoke up.

"No, there's nothing you can do now," Canas sobbed. "Nothing. Everything is ruined..."

"But, if you'll only look up and see," Eliwood explained, "I have the other one."

Canas slowly looked up into Eliwood's eyes, and his mouth dropped open. He had one eye of blue, and the other of violet.

"You are the one!" Canas exclaimed, nearly hysterical. "I've found you! The marquess won't kill me! Huzzah! And the Lady Lyndis will be so thrilled! You must come with me to the palace at once, young man! We'll adorn you in the finest attire, and get you out of those rags!"

"Do you mean it?!" Eliwood enthused. "Thank you so much!"

"No, no, NO!" Nergal shouted. "This will not do at all! I will not allow a useless, trouble-making, red-haired little brat like you gain any sort of power over ME! I'll kill you long before you ever make it to your precious Lady Lyndis! Just like I did your pathetic parents!"

Ephidel and Limstella gasped. Ephidel stammered, "Y-you killed his parents?! But I thought... I thought they... But you..."

"Does it come as a shock?" Nergal demanded ironically, striding toward his offspring threateningly. "Dear old daddy as the cold-blooded murderer?!"

"S-stay away!" Ephidel shouted. He stepped backwards away from his psychotic father, standing in front of Limstella protectively.

"You've failed me for the last time!" Nergal boomed.

As he reached out, Ephidel conjured a fireball and fired it off in pure panic. Nergal batted it away, disintegrating it as if it were nothing. With the other hand he reached out and grabbed Ephidel by the throat. Limstella screamed, covering her mouth with her hands. She feared a spell at such close proximity might hurt Ephidel as well.

Ephidel struggled against the old man's surprisingly strong grip, as Nergal's hand crackled with energy. Soon Ephidel's struggles became less and less, until he was so drained of his life force that he fell limp. Nergal released his throat, and Ephidel collapsed in an unconscious heap on the floor. Eliwood and Canas gawked in horror.

"That should suffice," Nergal said casually, turning back to the two by the door. "And now, for the rest of the kingdom."

"Come on!" Canas commanded, pulling Eliwood along by the arm to the carriage waiting outside.

Nergal strode after them calmly. The atmosphere in the house suddenly became dark, as if it were filled with smoke. The sky outside grew overcast and dark gray.

"Ephidel!" Limstella screamed. She shook him by the shoulders futilely. "Ephidel! Ephidel! Wake up, damn you! Say something! EPHIDEL!"

"Legault!" Canas called. "Move it!"

"Yah!" Legault shouted to the horses. The beasts took off at a sprint down the road towards the palace.

"What just happened back there?" Eliwood demanded.

"I am a scholar of the dark arts," Canas explained. "It seems Nergal is actually a Dark Druid. He has vast power, but he has been hiding it for a long time. He has become angered, and now seeks to destroy you, and the rest of the kingdom for that matter."

"I had no idea..." Eliwood murmured. He lowered his head and sighed. "I had no idea about anything. I was like a mushroom for all my life. They kept me in the dark and fed me horsesh—"

"Should we evacuate the local villagers?" Legault called from the driver's seat.

"Where would they go?" Canas replied. "The villagers of Caelin must be ordered to stay in their homes, no matter what. We're going to have to stake a showdown at the castle. There's very little else we can do right now..."

"I was afraid you were going to say that," Legault sighed.

"OSWIN!" Wallace boomed. "This is the second time we've had to stop!"

"It's not my fault!" Oswin shouted from behind a cactus. "I was cursed!"

"Excuses, excuses!" Wallace sighed.

"Um, Sir Wallace, sir?" Wil said.

"What is it, cadet?" Wallace demanded.

"Uh, well, I can't help but kind of notice something," Wil explained nervously. "But...I think we're lost."

"Are you implying that my sense of direction is lacking?!" the general demanded.

"No, sir!" Wil denied quickly. "It's just that...well... We're in a desert."

Wallace looked around at the vast dunes of sand all around. Other than the sky, it was all there was. "Well, that would explain why it got so gosh-darn hot all of a sudden. But, fear not, troops! We'll be back on track in no time!"

"Um, which way is back to Caelin?" Rebecca asked.

Everyone looked around. The whole desert looked the same.

An extremely big, buff man with blonde hair and carrying an axe over his shoulder passed. He stared at the gawking group for a moment, shrugged, and continued on his way.

"It's such a lovely day," Nergal sighed as a clap of thunder sounded in the distance. "I think I'll walk."

He floated serenely down from the sky on his magical black umbrella until his feet touched down on the grass. The sky was so dark from the electrical disturbance he had caused in the atmosphere that he almost didn't notice the figures up ahead. He looked up and studied the snarling beasts cresting the hill before him. Four wolves were looking straight at him, eyes glittering with menace, and jaws snapping viciously. Three were humanoid in appearance, one with brown fur, another with red, and the last with pink. The fourth wolf looked like any other, but jet black with golden eyes.

"Oh, won't this be entertaining?" Nergal mused.

Suddenly, the wolves came tearing at him, charging down the hill, barking and howling.

"Tsk, tsk. Such silly creatures."

They were soon all around him, scratching and biting him with all the strength they could muster. Nergal cocooned himself in a film of dark magic, numbing the pain from the numerous bites. He swiped at them with a flat hand, leaving shallow cuts in their hides. No matter how much he cut them, they kept coming back to ravage his limbs. The layer of magic was wearing thin with the onslaught, however, and the pain from the wolves' teeth was intensifying.

Each wolf took a hold of a wrist or an ankle, reducing Nergal's range of movement to useless flailing. With the brief standoff, Nergal took a moment to analyze the wolves at his feet.

"Ah, I was wondering why I wasn't doing more damage," he mused. "You've erected magical Barriers around yourselves, as well. It was you, wasn't it, pinky?"

He focused power into his foot and wrenched it free from the pink werewolf's jaws. She snapped viciously at it before it came down on her head. She whimpered in pain, and slowly shrank down into a human form.

Nergal unleashed a great deal of energy through his hands, sending both werewolves there into the air. They collided and crashed to the ground in a heap, their transformations reversing also.

The Dark Druid released a final wave of energy in a great dome several metres in diameter. The black wolf was knocked back and skidded across the ground. His transformation reversed as he went, and he managed to catch his balance and landed in a deep crouch. Nergal saw a flash of golden eyes before the figure winced and collapsed forward.

"Now, on to the castle," Nergal decided.

"So, Matthew," Leila said, "What's our plan?"

"Detain Nergal and try not to die," Matthew replied. "Simple, right?"

"Of course."

"Half of our best soldiers _would _have to be out lost somewhere with Wallace," Matthew muttered.

"You know, I may just have something that could help us." Leila searched the pockets in her cloak until she produced a flat, round stone with intersecting loops carved into it.

"A Light Rune!" Matthew exclaimed.

"This should hold him," Leila said as she tossed the stone into the doorway. It landed and disintegrated into nothing, leaving behind the blue glowing image of the rune. The rune released several plumes of smoke, then disappeared altogether. "And now, we wait."

Matthew clasped Leila's hand in his own. "I'll just...hang on to you. In case you get scared."

Leila laughed. "Always the altruistic one."

Nergal crossed the drawbridge of Castle Caelin. The town had been quiet and devoid of life, and the palace appeared no different. There were no guards, but there did seem to be some kind of life force beyond the door.

He crossed several deserted rooms uneventfully. He stepped in the doorway of the next room, but his foot hovered just above the floor when he saw the rune begin to glow. Energy crackled all around his foot, which he withdrew quickly.

"A Light Rune," Nergal said. "Clever. But not enough, I'm afraid."

He raised his hands in the air and summoned forth a myriad of dark lightning bolts that shattered a portion of the ceiling to rubble. The rune fizzled out, and Nergal walked confidently over the pile of stones. Within the newly made alcove were two cat-people waiting to greet him.

"So, when do you serve up the punch?" Nergal asked.

"I'll serve you some punch, alright," Matthew growled. He drew an ornate dagger, and Leila drew her own pair.

"Then allow me to give you a hand!" Nergal taunted. He raised the palm of his hand to them, and a great fireball erupted between them. They leapt clear of the blast, but Matthew still felt the searing heat on his face.

_I thought he was a druid, not a sage! How is he able to use Anima magic?!_

Matthew tried not to allow himself to become distracted. He skillfully threw his dagger at Nergal's foot, but the Dark Druid withdrew in time.

"You missed!" Nergal cried triumphantly.

"That, my friend," Matthew grinned, "is what we call a distraction."

"What?!?!"

Leila dropped from the ceiling, daggers flashing, and cut a deep gash from Nergal's shoulder down to his abdomen. He growled and doubled over in pain.

Leila looked over her shoulder and gasped. "Why don't you bleed?!"

"Leila, move!" Matthew pleaded.

It was too late. With a sudden burst of strength, Nergal thrust his hand out and clutched Leila by the neck. She screamed and slowly grew faint as Matthew watched, horrified, and the grisly wound closed itself, healed completely.

"Cat got your tongue?" Nergal asked of Matthew.

"Leila!" Matthew cried. He launched himself forward, hissing and silver dagger glinting.

Nergal unleashed a wave of dark magic, sending Leila flying into Matthew, and then the both of them to the back of the room, reverted to their natural form.

Matthew climbed to his paws and looked at himself. "No! I'm cute, cuddly kitty again!"

Nergal approached them slowly. Matthew stood before an unconscious Leila, hissing.

"Matthew..." Leila murmured.

Matthew forgot about everything else nuzzled her comfortingly. "You're going to be okay. Just hang on!"

"I'm fine," Leila assured him. "Just...drained. He can...steal our powers with his...magic. The Anima spells... And now he has...my speed..."

"I always had a thing for cats," Nergal mused. "They're just so cuddly."

"Oh, yeah?" a voice challenged from afar. Guy came bounding into the room and stopped in front of Matthew and Leila, sword at the ready. "Well, that makes two of us..."

"Guy!" Matthew exclaimed thankfully. He then became serious. "Guy, you have to get out of here! It's too dangerous! Especially if he absorbs your powers, too! Then we're screwed!"

"Care to show me what you can do?" Nergal asked of Guy.

"You'll regret those words!" Guy shouted. He concentrated for a moment, then split into three entities and surrounded Nergal with amazing speed.

Matthew suddenly felt himself get lifted up off the floor, Leila right next to him. He looked up to see that Legault was rescuing them.

"It's time to go," Legault told him.

"But, what about Guy?" Matthew demanded. "We can't just leave him there!"

"Nergal won't tarry with him long," Legault explained. "It's not Guy he's after. Besides, Guy is under a protective spell. He'll be fine; for now."

Nergal fired off tongues of dark magic at one Guy clone after another. The first two fizzled out of existence, and the last one, the real one, bore down on Nergal from out of the shadows. Nergal did not have time to react before the fabric bound about his head had been cut clean off at the blade of Guy's sword. The fabric fell away, revealing an oversized, bulbous eye that searched the room seemingly of its own accord. 

"What the hell?!" Guy cried in shock.

Nergal extended his palm, and Guy, still in mid-air, was encompassed in a dark wind, like the strands of a spider's web catching him and creating the tiniest of cuts. A flux of energy pushed him back into the wall. He hit the stone hard and slumped to the ground, dark green hair cascading over his shoulders. His braid had come undone in the onslaught.

"As fun as this is, I shall have to get straight to the point," Nergal decided. "Oh, Eliwood! Where are you? Your mother and father a simply _dying _to see you again!"

"It is I, Eliwood!"

"It _is _you!" Lyn exclaimed. She ran to him and they embraced.

"You must stand clear of the door," Erk told them, locking the door to the chamber. "This is a useless ploy. He will be able to enter."

"If he can find us," Eliwood added.

Erk shook his head. "Of course he can find us. He can sense our very life force."

"Sure, put a damper on everything I say," Eliwood muttered.

They lay in wait for several minutes, and sure enough, the door began to shake with the force of the dark spells hitting it.

"He's toying with us," Erk mumbled bitterly. "Trying to instill fear in us. He could easily tear down a door such as that in a single strike." He strode towards the door.

"Erk, don't do it!" Lyn pleaded. "You know Anima magic has a fundamental weakness against the dark arts!"

"I have to try!" Erk said. "If I fall, there will be no one left standing between him and you!"

With one final blast, the door was reduced to splinters and Nergal stepped into the room.

"You will go no further!" Erk threatened, charging at Nergal.

After a short encounter, Erk collapsed, eyes reduced to swirling black spirals.

"Why must I be tormented so?" he demanded of some higher power.

"You've eluded me for far too long!" Nergal said to the two remaining, cowering figures in the room. He stepped over Erk and advanced on them. "Eliwood, it is high time that you died!"

"Never!" Eliwood shouted defiantly. He drew his Rapier and lunged at Nergal. Unfortunately, he did not notice the upturned corner of the rug and tripped. The Rapier flew out of his hands, and Lyn managed to catch it. Eliwood crashed to the floor, rolling a bit as he went. He rolled right into Nergal, whose feet were swept right out from under him. Lyn saw her opportunity and thrust the Rapier at Nergal. It landed squarely in the pupil of his bug eye.

"Gah!" Lyn cried in disgust.

Eliwood clambered to his feet and joined Lyn, equally in disgust as the Rapier moved around with the movements of Nergal's bug eye.

"No! My googly eye!" Nergal shrieked. "How did you know that was the source of my power?! Uggghh... Gwaaaa!!" His wrinkled flesh began to melt, and his hair, to wither away. He was reduced to a smoking pile of goo, which soon disintegrated along with his robes.

Nergal and his googly eye were gone for good.

Wedding bells rang out for all the kingdom to hear.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," Renault finished.

Eliwood and Lyn kissed and ran back down the aisle to the carriage waiting for them.

A slew of angry people rose out of the church pews and bore down on Renault.

"He killed Lucius's parents!" one of them shouted. "Let's get him!"

Renault ran for his life.

Meanwhile, outside, everyone was cheering enthusiastically.

Sain wiped a tear away. "Weddings do it to me every time... Kent, do weddings get to you, too?"

Kent sniffled. "Um, yeah, that's why I'm crying... Oh, Lyndis..."

"And to think," Matthew said, "that we had a part to play in bring this tog— OUCH!" He winced as the needle-sharp teeth of five kittens clamped down on his ears. "Leila, they're doing it again!"

"They're just playing," Leila laughed. "Right?"

"Meow!" the kittens mewled in unison.

"I'll never forget how well you painted my nails!" Ephidel called, waving enthusiastically.

"Or how good your fashion advice was!" Limstella added.

In the carriage, Lyn sighed. "I only wish Wallace and the others could have been here..."

"Hey, we're in Ilia!" Florina enthused.

The troops shivered uncontrollably in the biting winds of the north.

Wallace turned the parchment around in his hands over and over. "Damn map! This thing must be misprinted!"

"And they lived happily ever after."

"I like happy endings," Nils sighed. "Please, Canas, I would love to hear another."

"Very well," Canas agreed. "Ah, I have the perfect story in mind! It's about a boy with a flute."

"Just like me!" Nils cried. "What is the name of this story?"

Canas turned the pages in his book. "The name of this next story is called..."


	8. The Petit Piper

"The name of this next story is called The Pied Piper," Canas said.

"Why was he pied?" Nils asked curiously.

"Well that's simple," Canas said. "It's because he—" Canas stopped suddenly. He looked puzzled, and tilted his head. "Well, it's because he... Um... I'll be honest with you, Nils. I have absolutely no idea why he's pied."

"What does pied mean?"

"It means piebald, spotted. Unless the piper had some kind of infectious disease, it may have something to do with his clothes."

"Oh, okay."

"Alright. On with the story."

Lowen wheeled the tray into the dining room.

"Smells good!" Eliwood exclaimed. "I'm starved."

Lowen picked up the large platter, topped with a dome, and placed it in the middle of the table. "This is my patented chicken-fried chicken, with a delectable bread stuffing and smooth pepper sauce."

Eliwood and Lyn were positively drooling from the delicious smell wafting from beneath the dome. They gasped expectantly as Lowen pulled the dome away, only to scream in horror.

"Rats!" Eliwood screamed.

"They're everywhere!" Lyn cried.

"You ruined my meal!" Lowen groaned. "Off my food! Shoo, you evil little beasts! Shoo!"

"It's been like this for the past week," Lyn grated. "What's with this sudden infestation of rats?!"

"I believe I've found the source!" Canas exclaimed, running into the dining room.

"Oh, do tell," Eliwood muttered. He stood on his chair and tried to stomp the little rodents on the table with his foot.

"It seems Nergal decided to leave us a little gift upon his defeat," Canas explained, leafing through a book. "After his body disintegrated, these rats began showing up all over the palace. In the bed sheets, under tables, hiding in suits of armour, everywhere! I'm still researching how he was capable of such a legacy as a plague of rats, but I have no doubt that he is responsible. You'll note how similar the rats appear to Nergal."

"You're right, they do bear a vague similarity." Lyn gave a startled cry as a rat with a violet sash around its head, just like the one Nergal had, grabbed a cube of cheddar cheese from her plate and made off with it, cackling wickedly.

"So what do we do about them?" Eliwood asked.

"Matthew, Leila and Karel are trying as hard as they can to lower their numbers," Canas explained. "But they've reported that for every one they kill, they see two more. It's truly a genuine plague. If it does have magical sources, then it must be fought with magic."

"No offense, but I'm more partial to the bow and arrow method," Lyn said grimly. She drew her bow and an arrow at lightning speed and picked off a rat scurrying next to the wall.

"Nice shot!" Eliwood exclaimed.

"Effective, but much too slow," Canas admitted. "I'll begin research on reversing the problem right away."

Lyn sighed. "Isn't there anyone who knows how to rid the castle of Nergal's rats?"

One by one, the villagers started gathering around a spot on the main road through town. As more gathered, more noticed the knot of people, and the crowd grew.

In the centre of this crowd sat a little boy with green hair and crimson eyes. With a flute to his lips, he played a merry tune that intrigued the crowd with its beauty, and the expertise with which it was played. But this was not the only reason the people were fascinated. As the boy played, six fat, gray rats were dancing happily in a circle. They would make formations sometimes like acrobats, creating a star or a sphere. A trilling crescendo finally drew the song to a close, and the rats gave a little bow.

The crowd laughed and cheered. The boy smiled sweetly and untied his yellow scarf, holding it out expectantly. Several gold coins flew the air into the sash, and he grinned as he tried to catch them all. The crowd began to disperse, and the rats scurried away.

The boy got up and picked up the coins he had missed, stashing them quickly into his pockets. He turned around and found some behind him, but froze when he was suddenly covered in shadow. He lifted his head slowly, and his mouth dropped open in horror at the sight he saw. The fact that it was an armed knight on horseback was bad enough. The man also had pointed ears and a swishing tail the same red as his hair. This was an armed _werewolf_ knight on horseback.

The boy hastily tied his scarf up and scrambled to get away.

"Wait! Boy!" the knight called. The boy continued to run, but was stopped short when the horseman intercepted him. He froze in terror as the cavalier dismounted.

"What were you doing to those rats?" the horseman asked him.

"It's a type of magic, sir," the boy replied shakily. "The music from my flute can make anyone do what I want it to."

"How would you like to perform for Lord Eliwood and Lady Lyndis?" the cavalier asked.

The boy's eyes lit up. "Truly? It would be an honour!"

"Very well. Come with me."

"What an adorable little boy!" Serra gushed.

Erk sighed exasperatedly. "Leave the boy alone, Serra."

Serra placed her hands on her hips. "You're just jealous, aren't you? I think you're an adorable little boy, too, ya know!"

Erk sighed again.

"I understand you have the power to control rats," Lyn said to the young bard. "What's you name?"

"Nils, milady," the bard replied, "But some people call me the Petit Piper."

"Well, Nils, we need your help, badly," Eliwood said. "We seem to be suffering from a serious rat infestation. Do you think you can help?"

"I should think so," Nils said thoughtfully. "I should be able to do it, despite the vast numbers."

"How many do you think we have?" Eliwood inquired.

"If it's any indication, there's one on your head."

"Gah!" Eliwood bellowed, flailing madly at the top of his head. He grabbed the rat and flung it to the ground. He turned on Lyn. "Why didn't you tell me that thing was there?!"

"I dunno," Lyn shrugged. "I thought it was kind of cute."

"Kind of cute?!" Eliwood exclaimed. "Those things have bugs! My head itches! Quick, someone fetch the anti-lice shampoo!!!"

"Can you show us your power, Nils?" Lyn asked, ignoring Eliwood's frantic shouting.

Nils brought his flute to his lips and began playing a tune. Two rats by the wall stood on their hind legs and perked their ears at the sound. They came waddling over between Nils and Lyn, and soon were dancing the Charleston flawlessly.

"Those are some talented rats," Erk commented.

"Can you summon more of them to you?" Lyn asked.

Nils furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. The music had emanated from his flute shifted smoothly over into a different tune. The two rats stopped dancing and scuttled over to Nils's feet. They jumped up and down, as if trying to reach him. More rats came from wherever it was they were hiding and joined the first two. The other four in the room stood agape at the sight of so many rats in one place. The music soon stopped with a strangled scream from Nils. The only visible part of him was his fist clutching his flute from out of a furry, gray pile of rats.

"Get off of him, you vile things!" Lyn shouted. She, Eliwood, Erk and Serra began picking the rats off of Nils and throwing them to the ground.

When Nils was freed, he took a deep breath. "Yeah, I think I can summon them to me... I just shouldn't be standing in one spot when I do it."

"Perhaps tomorrow, you can try and fix our pest problem," Eliwood suggested. "If you can rid all of Caelin of the Nergal-rats, you will be rewarded."

"With cash?" Nils asked, stroking his chin.

"Of course," Eliwood replied. "Whatever you like."

Nils smiled. "I'll do it! Tomorrow at dawn, I'll rid Caelin of every Nergal-rat within her walls."

As the sun rose the next morning, flute music filled the corridors of Castle Caelin. Many of the residents awoke in an irritable mood at having had their sleep disturbed by the infernal instrument, but soon found themselves delighted when they discovered that rats were no longer nibbling on their toes.

Lowen was wandering degenerately about the kitchen, searching for any food for breakfast that had not been eaten almost entirely by rats. He was shocked to find that there was a loaf of bread still intact, as delectable as the day it came out of the oven. As he began to wonder why the rats had not gotten to it before he did, a large group of them crawled over his feet. He yelped and sat up on the counter. He watched as they scurried past and out the door, into the hall in search of the source of the flute music.

Nils navigated every corridor of the castle, playing the mystical tune on his flute as he went. It was a big castle, so he tried to make the trip as short as possible by moving quickly. But not too quickly; he did not want to lose the ear of any of the rats, either. He glanced behind him nervously every once in a while, the rats collecting in a giant mass of gray fur and pursuing him closely.

A maid from one of the rooms along the corridor opened her door and stuck her head out. "What's all this ruckus?! If you don't— ACK!" She slammed her door shut when she saw the tidal wave of gray fur pass by.

When Nils reached the castle vestibule, Eliwood, Lyn, Sain and Kent were waiting for him.

"Holy Gods, that's a lot of rats!" Sain exclaimed.

"Holy Gods?" Kent repeated. "As opposed to what?"

Nils pulled his flute away from his lips for a moment to shout, "I'm running out of saliva!"

"Quickly, get him some water!" Lyn ordered. Sain and Kent ran outside.

"They're taking up the entire corridor!" Eliwood cried, staring, horrified, at the wave of rats. "They'll crush us all! Run away!" He grabbed Lyn by the wrist and dragged her outside, well out of the way of the rats.

Nils continued into the town, and Kent ran up to him with a cup of water. Nils stopped playing for a moment, downed all the water in one go, then went back to his flute. He travelled up and down all the streets of town, which took some time. He asked for water periodically, which Kent and Sain delivered to him.

As people saw the giant Ratzilla monster coming their way, they ran and hid inside their homes. They were surprised and relieved to find a distinct lack of rats in their homes. Although, they felt quite sorry for the little boy, innocently strolling along and playing his flute, unaware of Ratzilla following close behind him.

Nils had made his rounds of the castle and the entire town and was now travelling out into the meadows of Caelin. He was quickly tiring. His lungs and his lips burned from exhaustion, and more often than not he found himself stumbling.

"That poor boy is fading fast!" Kent said. "Should one of us go and carry him?"

"The Really Big Cliff is only a few feet away," Sain said. "That must be his plan: to send them all over it to drown in the river below. As soon as he's finished, we'll go get him." Sain tilted his head thoughtfully. "Who named it The Really Big Cliff, anyway?"

"I don't know," Kent replied, "But I assume creativity wasn't their strong point..."

Meanwhile, Nils stood at the very edge of The Really Big Cliff, playing the very last stanza of his tune. All the rats were following his fatal instructions, leaping into the chasm and plummeting all the way to the bottom. Miniature googly eyes searched desperately for a way to save themselves, but they fell to their doom nonetheless. Little purple sashes were scattered on the edge of the cliff from where they had fallen off their owners.

Finally, Nils saw no more rats going over the edge and very gratefully stopped playing and pulled his flute away. He gasped for air, rubbing his mouth with the back of his hand sorely. He looked over and froze, seeing one final rat looking up at him with its lower lip trembling and its one visible eye big and unusually shiny. Nils glared bitterly, and gave it a boot over the edge of The Really Big Cliff.

With that, he collapsed from exhaustion.

Sain and Kent rushed over to attend him.

"Let's get back to the castle," Sain suggested, carrying Nils in his arms.

After Nils had been properly hydrated and given some time to rest, he was summoned to the throne room, where everyone was there to meet and congratulate him on a job well done. He was offered many hugs and pats on the back and the top of his head before he finally reached Eliwood and Lyn in the back of the room.

'And now,' Nils thought happily, 'I get my reward!'

"Nils, we don't know how to thank you," Lyn said.

"That's alright," Nils said dismissively. "Because I do."

"We're very proud of you," Eliwood continued, "And we all agree that you deserve every bit of this. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, respect, and fear you."

Nils opened his hand expectantly. Eliwood dropped the reward into his outstretched palm, a single coin. Nils, not to be so easily discouraged, studied the coin enthusiastically. Perhaps it was an old and valuable coin, or a special coin printed especially to be worth more than it appeared. His smile faded when he realized it was neither.

"A quarter?"

"You deserve every penny," Eliwood said, ruffling his hair.

Nils looked up at him blankly. He was waiting for the laughter, the boisterous exclamation of "Just kidding!" But it never came. He clenched the cheap prize in his fist and tried to put on a grateful smile.

"I shall treasure it..." Nils gritted. "...always..." He turned stiffly away, past everyone and out of the room. "Fare...well..."

"It's so good to have all those ugly rats gone!" Lyn exclaimed. She suddenly shivered. "But it's freezing in here!"

Canas noticed something strange about the wall. He ran a hand over it, and found his palm covered in icy cold slush.

"Frost...?"

The sun was just beginning to lift its head over the horizon. No one was awake enough for it to really register, but music floated in and out the castle walls. Through the corridors and wafting into the chambers, where the residents were sleeping. Some, in their sleep, thought the music sounded familiar, almost like the flute of that little boy that had drawn all of their rats away. But the tune this time around was a little different, and perhaps a little softer as to not awaken most of the residents. All the women in the castle, however, were up with a start. As soon as the gentle flute music reached their ears, they sat up in bed, as if in a trance, and followed the music out into the corridors. Nils walked quietly throughout the castle, summoning them to him.

As the sun had nearly risen all the way over the horizon, Nils was skipping merrily out of town, playing a cheery tune on his flute. Every girl and woman danced behind him, following wherever he summoned them.

"Lyn!!" Eliwood screamed. "Lyn, where are you?! I can't find you anywhere! Yell if you can hear me! LYN!!!!!!!!!"

"Rebecca?! Where are you, Rebecca?!" Wil cried. "I miss you! If this is a joke, I'm going to cry! Well, maybe not if it's a funny joke... But I don't think this is a very funny joke! Which means, please, come on out!"

"The Three Little Pegs!" Sain gasped desperately. "They're gone! Where are the Three Little Pegs?!?! WHERE?!?!?!"

"Leila, where'd you go?!" Matthew called. "Malla, Louis, Matthew Jr., Leila Jr. and Bob are all crying!"

Five kittens came bawling into the corridor.

"There there!" Matthew tried to comfort them helplessly. "Mommy will be back soon! LEILAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Serra didn't scream in my ear to wake me up this morning," Erk said thoughtfully. "I'm relieved...and yet, somehow empty..."

All the male residents of the castle and the town went tearing around in search of their wives or significant other, but to no avail. Eventually, perplexed and frustrated, Eliwood prepared an announcement in front of the town.

Standing atop a crate, he shouted, "As you may have all noticed, we seem to be suffering from a distinct lack of women."

The crowd shouted in agreement.

"Forensics have shown that the women of Caelin have been...stolen."

The crowd bubbled with shock and horror.

A random voice from the crowd shouted, "Let's go and get them back!"

The crowd shouted in agreement.

"I'm afraid that's impossible," Eliwood replied. "The trail cut off. No one knows where the perpetrator has taken them. But we do know this: All signs point to Nils as the thief. He was that little boy that rid our town of rats yesterday."

The crowd bubbled with shock and horror.

"I say we find him and turn him in!" another random voice from the crowd shouted. "Then hit him with a blunt object!"

The crowd shouted in agreement.

"Are you kidding?" Eliwood snorted. "No jury would convict an adorable little kid. And if we used force, no jury would every let any of us off for beating an adorable little kid."

The crowd murmured disappointedly.

"After much deliberation, we've come to this conclusion," Eliwood said. "In order to make our town continue to appear normal by outsiders, some of us are going to have to dress as women and take their place."

The crowd boiled in outrage. A single voice from the crowd shouted, "Woo hoo!"

There was silence as everyone turned to face Ephidel, with his hands in the air.

He looked around, lowering his arms slowly. "I mean, how dreadful..."

Hector raised his hand in the crowd. "Eliwood, no offence, but your plan kind of sucks."

The crowd nodded in agreement.

"Well then, what would you suggest?" Eliwood asked a little scornfully.

"I say, just because we don't know where they've gone, they're not lost forever," Hector announced, his voice rising above the crowd strongly. "I say we go out there and find our lost loves, and rescue them from that perverted little boy! Who's with me?!"

The crowd shouted enthusiastically and followed Hector out of town in search of their women. By the time everyone had heard the news and left town on the search party, the town was virtually deserted.

And that's the real reason why Ostia took over Caelin.

"The end," Canas said in satisfaction.

"I liked that story," Nils said. "But did the women ever come back?"

"Of course," Canas replied. "The Pied Piper was only teaching the men a lesson."

"Especially Sain," Nils giggled. "Heh heh heh..."

"Pardon?"

"Oh, nothing. Canas, would it be alright if I heard another one?"

"Of course. I'd be glad to read you another fairy tale."

"Thank you. I could never get bored of these."

Canas flipped through the pages of the book of fairy tales and smiled when he came to a particular story. "Ah, this is the one. Are you ready?"

"Yup!" Nils enthused. "Tell me the name of the next story, Canas!"


	9. Sain White and the Seven Maidens

Canas announced, "This story is called Snow White." 

"That's a funny name," Nils commented.

"I believe it was referring to her skin, which was a pale as the fallen snow," Canas explained.

Nils blinked. "It doesn't sound like she's very healthy..."

"No, but I guess back in the days when people wrote these stories, they had different ideas about beauty."

"If they wrote these stories to be the way that I'm imagining them," Nils said, "then they must have been some silly story-tellers!"

Canas decided that he did not want to know. "Alright, let's get started."

During their travels away from Caelin in search for the kingdom's missing women, Sain and Kent had visited several towns. Along the way, they had earned nicknames for themselves. Sain White had been considered by many woman as the fairest man in the land; far fairer than his companion, Rose Kent.

Kent grumbled. "Honestly... Such a blatant misinterpretation. Who cares about snow? Red is a much handsomer colour! And roses are pretty!"

"What are you mumbling about?" Sain asked, riding next to his companion through the forest.

"Didn't you hear what the narrator just said about me?" Kent demanded, scandalized.

"What narrator?" Sain inquired, beginning to worry for his companion's sanity. "What are you talking about? Are you hearing voices?"

"No!" Kent exclaimed. "It's not out loud, you have to read it!" He pointed up at the first paragraph.

Sain searched futilely where Kent was pointing. "I don't see anything. Kent, you're pointing at a cloud. I think you need to lie down for a moment."

"I tell you, I'm not insane!" Kent shouted, his face turning a close shade to that of his hair.

"Well, I'm not insane, either," Sain admitted proudly. "In fact, I'm Sain. Get it?"

"Hilarious..." Kent muttered.

As they emerged from the forest path and out into a clearing, they spotted a castle a short distance away.

"Perhaps the women of Caelin have all taken shelter here," Kent suggested.

"And even if they haven't," Sain added dismissively, "there's bound to be princesses and chamber maids in a castle! Tally-hoe!"

Sain galloped away, and Kent, with a sigh, followed.

When they reached the castle, they were surprised to find the drawbridge lowered and no guards attending the entrance.

"What do you suppose this all means?" Sain wondered. "Is it abandoned?"

"Only one way to find out..." Kent said.

They tied up their horses on a tree outside and entered the darkened vestibule of the castle. The interior appeared to be in good enough repair, but it was still completely desolate.

"Hello?" Sain called. "If anyone lives here, say something!"

"I live here," cooed a woman's voice. She strode into the room, scantily clad in a black dress and black gloves. Her long hair was the same jet black, and her eyes were a shiny gold.

Kent eyed the woman suspiciously. He turned his head to look at Sain, but only found a Sain-shaped cloud where his companion once stood. Sain was now standing next to the woman, gazing into her eyes and pitching woo.

"Such a lovely creature! Your hair gleams like obsidian, and your eyes, golden, like— uh, gold!"

The woman snorted a laugh and placed her hand on Sain's forehead. She shoved him backwards, and Kent helped to steady him.

"My name is Queen Sonia," she purred. "If you would be interested, I may have a task for you."

"Name it, and it shall be done!" Sain swooned.

"Sain!" Kent whispered, but his attempts at getting his companion's attention failed.

"How would you like to be my servants here in this castle?" Sonia proposed. "I'm always looking for new pawns to keep me entertained."

"Serving you would be like a dream come true!" Sain exclaimed.

Kent could hardly believe what he was hearing. Some strange woman in an empty castle, claiming to be a queen, had quite suddenly offered the job of servants to them both, while they were quite well-off as knights-errant, and Sain knew that! Perhaps she was putting some sort of enchantment on Sain... But then again, this was Sain he was thinking of... But she had referred to them as pawns. Was Sain even listening?

Kent thought it a very logical question. He leaned over to Sain and whispered, "What are you thinking? Did you hear what she just said? Did you hear what she said her name was?"

"No, I missed that," Sain whispered back. "I was staring at her boobs."

Kent rolled his eyes. "Queen Sonia! Sonia was the name of the sorceress that put that wretched curse on Oswin!"

Sain scoffed. "Oh, come now! She's no sorceress! It must have been a different Queen Sonia."

"Just how many Queen Sonias do you think there are?!"

Sonia snapped her fingers. "We'll get you started right away on your new jobs."

Several very distracted and tired-looking men in dirty robes came bustling out from the room behind Sonia and started shoving Sain and Kent further into the castle, handing them brooms and dustpans.

"Kent and I would be honoured to be in your service!" Sain called out.

"No! Sain, stop it! I never agreed to this! Hey—! Get your hands off me! Sain! SAIN! YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!!!"

Kent threw his sponge to the floor in a disgruntled rage and crossed his arms over his chest. A fortnight they had been cleaning floors in this stupid castle, and for what?! So Sain could get his jollies by staring at Sonia while he wasn't emptying out chamber pots?

Kent had tried to leave the castle several times. Sain always refused to go with him, but the least Kent could do was try to get some help to remove the charm from Sain — Kent was quite convinced by this time that Sain had fallen under some sort of enchantment. But every time Kent stepped across the threshold to the open drawbridge, he would find himself stepping right back into the castle, the forest scenery before his eyes disappearing and reappearing right behind him. The first time, he'd thought he'd gone mad, but he soon came to realize that the castle itself was under some sort of enchantment; no one could escape. He feared that if this continued, he and Sain would soon end up like the other zombies working alongside them.

Kent got to his feet and stormed through the castle to where he knew Sonia's chambers to be. He was about to thrust open the wooden door and begin to demand answers from her, when he heard voices from within. Instead of his original plan, he decided instead to be subtle and pressed his fuzzy wolf ear to the door and listened.

"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?"

'Now she's talking to her reflection,' Kent thought wryly. 'She's completely mad AND narcissistic.'

He was shocked, however, when he heard a male voice respond.

"Well, Your Majesty, I know you ask this question everyday..."

"Yes, and the answer is always me! What's so different about today? What are you hiding? Spit it out, you rusty old piece of glass!"

"Let's not get personal, Your Majesty. It's just that...well...do you mean the fairest female, or male?"

"What's that got to do with anything? I was always the undisputed fairest-of-them-all! What happened?!"

"I don't know quite how to tell you this... But I fear that Sain the werewolf is the fairest of them all. Please, don't hit me!"

"WHAT?! What are you saying?! What man— what WEREWOLF— would be fairer than me?! You're defective! I want a new mirror!"

"Please, Your Majesty, I can explain! You see, the world consists of 51 females, and I go by percentages to determine who the fairest is. So naturally, he has an advantage over you, seeing as you only have the support of 49 of the population."

"Urgh! This is unacceptable!"

"Please, Your Majesty, restrain yourself!"

Kent heard a great clamoring come from within the chamber, and thought it would be best to take his leave. He dropped down on all fours and sprinted away as quickly as he could.

He rushed off to find Sain, and soon discovered him standing on a balcony, singing happily to a bird that sat on his finger.

"Sain," Kent muttered, "What are you doing?"

"Singing to my little friend, Chirpie!" Sain exclaimed happily. "See?! Isn't she adorable?!"

He held out his finger so Kent could see the little sparrow. Chirpie's eyes shifted back and forth nervously.

"Sain, I don't think you're well," Kent said, giving Chirpie a comforting pat on the head. "Tell me: do you feel enchanted?"

"Of course; enchanted to be in the presence of such a lovely queen!" Sain sighed happily. Chirpie took his moment of distraction as her cue to fly away.

"Well, I have something to tell you that may shatter your illusions," Kent said grimly. "This is indeed the sorceress that put the curse on Oswin. I heard her talking to an enchanted mirror just now. You'd best be careful, I get the feeling that she may now be holding a grudge against you..."

"Nonsense!" Sain dismissed. "Sometimes we all talk to inanimate objects."

"Yes, but this inanimate object was talking back!"

Sain wagged his finger chidingly. "I'll not have you talking about our liege that way. She was gracious enough to give us jobs in her castle!"

"We had jobs!" Kent shouted. "Get a hold of yourself, man!"

"I'll hear no more of it," Sain said adamantly.

"But, Sain—!"

"Not listening."

"Sain!"

Sain stuffed his fingers in his ears. "Lalalalala!"

"Sain! ..." Kent sighed, unable to elicit any kind of response from his companion other than "Lalalalala!" He would have to try something different...

Later on that day, Kent closely observed Sonia's chamber from an adjacent hallway. She emerged from it and began barking orders at one of her zombie-slaves, who solemnly nodded and entered the chamber, armed with a broom. Sonia departed down the other end of the hallway.

Kent emerged from his hiding place and entered the chamber, now unlocked for the servant to move in and out freely. He tapped the servant on the shoulder, who turned around to face him, only to have a fist in his face moments later.

With the servant lying unconscious on the floor, Kent immediately began inspecting the chamber. He spotted a large oval-shaped mirror hanging from the wall, surrounded by an ornate gold frame.

He approached the mirror. Strangely, it reflected everything in the room except his face.

"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall," he tried, remembering the words Sonia had used earlier. "Um, what are you?"

The images in the mirror swirled and the face of an old bearded man with bright blue eyes appeared.

"What do you mean, what am I?" he demanded. "You've had me in your possession for the last—! Oh, you're not Sonia... What's this? Why are you here?"

"Me and my companion were somehow dragged into becoming servants in this castle," Kent explained.

"I see..." the bearded man in the mirror said thoughtfully. "You've fallen into a dangerous trap. The men Sonia lures into becoming her castle servants rarely ever leave. If any do, they're never heard from again."

"I thought as much... But I suspect Sain— that's my companion— is somehow under her control. Do you know anything of that?"

"Some of the more weak-willed men that fall into her grasp, she controls through a powerful enchantment."

"I wouldn't call Sain weak-willed... But he does have a certain...penchant for women."

"That will do just as well."

"Ah. Well, do you know of some way to break the enchantment?"

"Powerful though the enchantment may be, breaking it is sinfully simple. Do you see that apple sitting at the table over by that window? It's really a crystal apple. She uses these crystals to contain the free will of her servants. I don't know what her fixation with apples is... Something to do with an old legend, perhaps, or perhaps it represents the heart. No matter. Shatter the crystal apple, and your friend will be released from Sonia's enchantment. But I warn you, if you choose to do so, you had better run. I'm obliged to tell the truth if one asks it of me, and I'll have no choice but to tell her who's responsible."

"Wonderful," Kent muttered. He stepped over the limp body of the servant and picked up the crystal apple from the small table. Sunlight reflected upon its many facets, spreading a mosaic of red polygons onto his hand. "Here goes..."

He drew back his hand, and thrust the crystal apple to the floor with all his might. It shattered into a thousand pieces, the tinkling sound of the crystal hitting the stones highly satisfying Kent.

"Thanks for your help," Kent told the mirror as he departed. He went to check on Sain, to see if the spell had been broken.

When he arrived in Sain's chamber, he found him slinging a bag over his shoulder.

"Where are you going, Sain?" Kent inquired.

"Sonia asked me to go pick some flowers for this evening's dinner," Sain replied cheerfully. He stopped and tilted his thoughtfully. "You know, I had the strangest sensation moments ago. It almost felt as if my free will had been trapped within a crystal apple, but then someone shattered it!"

"That's exactly what happened!" Kent exclaimed, surprised at how accurate Sain's guess had been. "Sonia had you under her control, but now that control has been lifted. Although, it still seems like you'll do whatever she says, anyway..."

"I can't say no to a beautiful woman."

Kent sighed. "Surely you've noticed that we're being held prisoner here."

"Yes, actually that has crossed my mind. Don't worry. I have a plan."

"You do?" Kent enthused.

"Of course! While I'm allowed to escape to go pick flowers, I'll try to find some help. I'll storm the castle and help you get out, too!"

"Good luck," Kent said, nodding once.

Sain gave a cocky salute. "Maybe I'll even find Caelin's women while I'm at it!"

After Kent stood staring solemnly at the setting sun, he finally couldn't take it any more. He had to do something productive!

He snuck out of Sain's chamber and to the front of the castle, where he found Sonia speaking with a heavily-armoured blue-haired man with an axe.

"Hector?" Kent breathed. "What's he doing here?"

"There's a little upstart I need you to take care of," Sonia was saying. "An annoying little werewolf."

"Why is it exactly that you need me to...take care of him?" Hector asked suspiciously.

"What reason do you need?!" Sonia shrieked. "He tried to kill me in my sleep! There, happy?!"

"No, not really, but I get the point..."

"Are you or are you not Hector the Handsome Woodsman?"

"Why yes," Hector replied, running his fingers through his hair. "Yes I am."

"Well then go catch that wretched werewolf, cut him open, and put his heart in this box." Sonia handed Hector an ornately-decorated little box, complete with a little heart-shaped lock.

"That's rather gruesome," Hector commented. "But, if there's a murderous werewolf afoot in my forest, Hector the Handsome Woodsman will take care of it!" He pranced nobly out the door, as was his usual heroic exit.

"He wouldn't kill Sain, right? He knows him...!" Kent mumbled. "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

"Dandelions!" Sain exclaimed happily. He knelt down on the forest floor and began stuffing the little yellow flowers into the bag slung over his shoulder. "The most underrated flower of them all. So pretty, yet considered weeds..."

While he was picking his dandelions, he heard a rustling of bushes and a crunching of twigs behind him. He perked his ears to the noise, and his instincts told him he was in danger. The ominous music playing in the background also alerted him that trouble was not far away.

Sain whirled around just in time to see an axe about to come down on his head. He let out a cry and flinched.

The man with the axe caught sight of Sain's face and also let out a cry. The momentum of his swing was too great for him to stop, so he swerved off madly to the side, the axe embedding itself into a tree trunk.

"Hector?" Sain guessed. He climbed to his feet and dusted himself off.

"Sain, I didn't know it was you!" Hector explained. "You look different from the back..."

"Why were you, er, trying to kill me?" Sain asked delicately.

Hector shook his head. "That Queen Sonia wanted me to do a job for her. As the Handsome Woodsman of this forest, I'm duty-bound to protect it from danger, and according to her, a werewolf had attempted to assassinate her."

"And you believed her?"

Hector shrugged. "There's always the chance..." He looked woefully at the small wooden box Sonia had given him. "Now what am I going to put in here?"

"What were you going to put in there?"

"Your heart."

Sain's eyes widened. "M-my heart?! I see... Oh, I see it all now! The queen has become smitten with me, so in a fit of angsty jealousy, she decided that she could not bear to have me flirt with so many women, as is my way! And then sent you to have me killed and to bring back my heart to her in a box. I must say, though horrified, I am also touched."

Hector blinked. "Sure... Why not..."

Sain placed his hands on his hips indignantly. "Well if you've got any better ideas, I'd like to hear them!"

"Well, my recommendation is to run away and get some help," Hector suggested. "She's still going to want you dead. Say, where's Kent? I thought you guys were always together."

"Still in the castle," Sain replied. His brows furrowed in worry.

"Yeah, get help," Hector reiterated with a not-so-amused laugh. "He could be in danger."

"On my way!" Sain said. He began to run down the forest path when he thought of something and stopped. "You know, there's a village not far away. You could go to the butcher's shop and buy a cow's heart!"

"Great idea!" Hector exclaimed, snapping his fingers. "Hey, thanks!"

Hector and Sain went their separate ways. Sain's trek through the forest eventually led him to a small cottage in the woods. It was a cozy little place with a pretty little front garden.

"Like something out of a fairy tale," he mused. He paused a moment to consider that thought, but then dismissed it and went to knock on the door.

"Hello? Is anybody home? If you don't answer, I'm going to assume I can just stroll in! This is your last warning! Okay, I'm coming in!"

He turned the knob and opened the door. It was not locked, and he stepped inside the little cottage.

"No huffing and puffing for me!" Sain said proudly, remembering all too vividly his lightheadedness from doing just that back in Chapter 2. He took a look around the living room. Wooden furniture, nothing too fancy, a quilt rack with a lovely quilt, everything that completed a nice cottage in the woods.

"No one home, I guess..." he mumbled to himself. He yawned. It had gotten dark on his way to the cottage, and he had been working hard all day. "I wonder if the occupants would mind if I took a little nap? I'll just explain my plight to them when they return. I'm sure they'll understand."

He climbed the stairs and found that the second floor was dedicated entirely to a large bedroom. Four beds lined one wall, while on the opposite wall were three beds. On the head of each bed was a piece of paper, taped in place. Sain picked one of the beds at random, the one labelled "Feisty". He flopped down on the soft pillow and fell asleep almost immediately.

Later that night, the door to the cottage opened and seven women walked in, laughing and talking.

"Like, omigod! Matt Damon is such a hunk!"

"Did you see me spill my popcorn all over the floor? I was so embarrassed!"

"Serra, what happened when you accidentally spilled pop in that guy's lap? Did you trip?"

"...Accidentally?"

"Oh..."

"Okay, ladies," Isadora announced, "It's time to decide who's next to get voted off of Survivor: Cabin." She pulled out a pencil and a piece of paper. "Let's go upstairs."

The seven girls climbed the stairs up to the dorm room and leapt excitedly into their beds in preparation to vote. All except Serra, that is.

"EEK! THERE'S A MAN IN MY BED!"

"I always thought you would be happy if something like that happened," Farina mused.

"That's not funny! Make him go away!" Serra squealed. She began beating Sain about the head with her staff.

Priscilla ran over and pulled Serra away. "Serra, stop that at once! ...My staff is pointier!" With that, she began beating Sain over the head with _her_ staff.

As sleepy as Sain was, he could not ignore the pounding headache being administered on him. He held his hands up in front of his face to block the staff and opened his eyes. He was quite startled to find seven beautiful maidens peering at him from around his bed!

"I've died and gone to heaven..." Sain sighed happily. "Too bad I didn't get a chance to save Kent... He would have liked it up here..."

"What's he talking about?" Fiora wondered.

"I dunno," Serra shrugged. "Maybe I should hit him some more."

"Wait!" Sain pleaded. "Don't you recognize me? It's your one-and-only Sain!"

"Oh, yeah, I remember you!" Serra recalled, snapping her fingers.

"What are you doing here?" Fiora asked.

"I could ask you the same question," Sain replied. "I thought Nils kidnapped you!"

"He did," Rebecca explained. "We were all hanging out in his swinging bachelor pad for a while, but then we decided to leave. Now we're playing Survivor: Cabin, and we're going to see who gets voted out next! Serra's already been eliminated, but we're letting her stay."

Serra sniffed. "You're all just jealous."

"To make it even more fun," Rebecca continued, "We each gave ourselves a nickname! I'm Cheery!"

"Feisty!" Serra piped up.

"Um... Bashful..." said Florina.

"Greedy!" said Farina.

"I'm... Ah...ah..ACHOO!" Fiora sneezed. She sniffled. "Sneezy... This forest really bugs my allergies..."

"I'm..." Priscilla began. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell backwards onto the floor, snoring.

"Um, that's Priscilla," Isadora explained. "She's a narcolept. We nicknamed her Sleepy. And I'm Isadora, nicknamed Doc."

"Fair lady, my name is Sain!" Sain announced. "But you can nickname me Honey." He winked obviously.

Isadora rolled her eyes. "Look, we're in the middle of our vote, so I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to leave."

"But I can't!" Sain exclaimed. He took a deep, calming breath, and tried desperately to act responsibly around so many beautiful women. "You remember Kent, right? He's been kidnapped by an evil witch named Queen Sonia! We have to do something!"

"Oh no!" Farina cried. "Not Kent! Anyone but Kent! OH THE HUMANITY!"

Everyone turned to stare at Farina.

Farina's eyes shifted back and forth. "What? We all like Kent, right?"

"Sure," Florina said. "He's very kind..."

"He...ACHOO!...has a remarkable sense of honour," Fiora added.

"Red hair is just the cutest!" Rebecca gushed.

"Yay! Let's go rescue Kent!" Serra exclaimed.

The girls cheered (Priscilla had woken up by this time), and Sain blinked.

"But...But..."

"No buts!" Isadora cried, grabbing Sain by the wrist. "We must go save your companion!"

"But I—!" Sain protested as he was dragged out of the bed. He sighed and conceded. "Oh, very well..."

They scrambled down the stairs. Unfortunately, Priscilla happened to be walking in front of Sain, and happened to choose that moment to fall asleep. She collapsed peacefully on the steps while Sain tripped over her and went sprawling down the stairs, landing awkwardly and rolling a few times before finally coming to a stop.

"Are you okay?" Rebecca demanded.

Sain sat up and grabbed his foot. "My ankle! Owie... I...I can't go! I'm injured!"

"You stay here and rest up," Serra said, patting him on the head condescendingly. "We'll go attack Queen Sonia's castle and free Kent!"

The girls all left the cabin, laughing and talking again (Priscilla had woken up and joined them by this time.) Sain sat on the floor, looking around the suddenly quiet cabin for lack of anything better to do.

Then he thought of something.

Why hadn't Serra or Priscilla just healed his ankle?

He sighed. He had found help, but things were certainly not going as he'd thought an experience with seven beautiful women might...

Sonia waltzed into her chamber, humming a tune as she went.

"Time for my beauty sleep," she sighed. As an afterthought, she added, "Not that I need it. Perhaps it would help me sleep to look at that lovely crystal apple of mine; that lovely, unbreakable crystal apple that contains the free will of that foolish werewolf Sain and always will, because it will never break."

She swallowed her words when she saw the 'unbreakable' crystal apple lying shattered on the floor.

She stifled a shriek, and settled for periodic high-pitched squeaks as she stared disbelievingly at the shattered crystal apple. Finally, after she had regained her composure, she snatched one of the shards up off the ground and stomped over to the magic mirror.

"Mirror, Mirror, on the wall...WHO DID THIS?!?!?"

The image of the bearded man appeared in the mirror, looking rather shocked. "Hm? What? Oh, you mean your crystal apple?"

"Yes, you ninny!" Sonia cried. She held the shard up for the mirror to see. "Someone snuck in here and broke my crystal apple, thereby releasing the free will of Sain...! Wait a second... That means that I let him escape while he was not under my control!" She screamed in frustration. "This is unforgivable! Tell me who did this immediately, so I can go and throttle him!"

"Kent did it! It was him! I saw him!" the mirror blurted. "I tried to make him stop, but he wouldn't listen!"

"Sain's little werewolf accomplice...!" she hissed. "I should have known! They were in on this together, I'm sure of it. Probably plotting some way to escape the castle! Such ingrates. Werewolf refuse like them obviously do not appreciate my hotness." She struck a pose.

"Oh, and just a report," the mirror added, "Sain is still number one on the fairest-of-them-all charts."

Sonia's pose faltered. "...What? But that can only mean one thing... Hector the Handsome Woodsman failed in his task to kill him! I thought that heart looked a little large to be human... Oh well, it was still delicious. In the meantime, I'll go find Kent and make him pay! I'll make him lay eggs till the day he dies!"

She went storming through the castle in search of Kent, and finally found him tiptoeing through the corridors.

"You!" Sonia shouted. Kent jumped and looked over his shoulder. "Hold still so I can punish you!"

Kent screamed and ran in the opposite direction. Sonia chased him through the castle, flinging curses left and right, but none of them hit their mark. Kent finally darted through a wooden door.

Sonia smirked. She stopped just outside the door and slammed it shut. With a wave of her claw-like, painted nail, the door locked itself from the outside.

"Ha ha!" she crowed. "Fool! I've locked you in the cellar!"

She heard an exclamation from within, something that sounded suspiciously like "D'oh!"

"And now, with you out of the picture, I'm free to go deal with that miserable werewolf companion of yours, Sain! I will seek him out and kill him, by disguising myself and poisoning him with a poison apple! You may be wondering why I'm telling you my whole plan. Well, you're clearly not going to be able to escape, so I need not concern myself with keeping my plan secret. So long, sucker!"

She travelled through the castle, and descended down to her secret laboratory deep beneath the earth. A cauldron sat in the very centre of the dank, gloomy chamber, and shelves lined the walls, each filled with bottles of ingredients.

Sonia opened a large, leather-bound book sitting on a table, the title of which read "101 Spells Using Everyday Materials Found Around The House." She flipped through the pages and she noticed one particular spell.

"Ah, this will be perfect for fooling Sain," she chuckled wickedly. "'Blondus Bimbous'. I'll transform myself so he'll never know it's me handing him a poison apple! Which will be made better because he won't know it's poisoned! And they he'll eat it and die! I'm so clever!"

She set to work right away on her potion and poison apple.

"Wow!" Sain exclaimed. He was sitting on a couch with his injured ankle elevated, reading a magazine he had found. "I can tastefully renovate my bathroom for under 1000 pieces of gold!"

He heard a knock on the door, and put the magazine down. He hobbled over to the front door and opened it.

"Girl Guide Apples!" a pretty blonde girl bubbled. She held out a big, red apple out for Sain.

"Well, hello!" Sain gasped. He placed his hands over hers where she gripped the apple. "A Girl Guide, huh? Do you pledge to keep my heart warm with your loving embrace?"

"Tee hee!" the girl giggled. "I'm, like, a little girl! That would be, like, pedophilia!"

"Too true..." Sain sighed, defeated. "Perhaps in a few years, then."

"Would you like an apple, sir?" the girl inquired. "I'll give you this one for free! Tee hee!"

"Going for my heart through my stomach, eh?" Sain guessed, taking the apple from the girl. "I will cherish your gift always! My heart is yours..."

He took a bite from the apple, swallowed and grinned.

"Mm, this really is a good apple! Where did you get it fr—"

His eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the floor before he could finish his sentence. His limp hand let the bitten apple fall out of his palm and roll across the floor.

"Like, nyahaha!" the girl laughed evilly. "You, like, fell for it! But now I can't get this stupid— like!— Blondus Bimbous spell to wear off! I keep yelling, like, like all the time! Like!" She took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. "I had, like, better run away, before, like, someone comes back and like, catches me! Like!"

Kent hunkered down and rolled his shoulders, glaring determinedly up at the door of the cellar.

"Okay," he muttered, resolved. "Time to break this door down! I imagine I'd have an easier time of it if I transformed, but...what if there happened to be a Peg Knight on the other side of the door just as I rammed into it? Not only would she be startled, but she might get hurt! It's not likely, but you never know..."

"Hey, guys!" Farina called to the others searching the castle. "I'm going to open this door to see if anyone's in here!"

"But Farina," Isadora argued, "What if there happens to be a werewolf on the other side of the door who's trying to knock it down from the other side just as you open it?"

"Hm... That's always a concern," Farina admitted. "But it's pretty unlikely."

She opened the door, and seconds later collided with Kent. The two were knocked to the ground.

"Found 'im!" Serra exclaimed, pointing enthusiastically at Kent.

"Kent, how long have you been in there?" Rebecca demanded.

"Not long," Kent replied. "But I fear the worst..."

Florina helped Farina to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"Sure," Farina answered, dusting herself off. "If I'm going to be tackled to the ground by someone, it may as well be Kent."

"Hm?" Kent squeaked.

"Er, what was this 'worst' that you fear?" Priscilla cut in before things got awkward.

"Sonia's gone off to kill Sain," Kent explained. "She told me her entire plan from just beyond the door."

"What'd she do that for?" Serra snorted.

Kent shrugged. "She didn't think I'd be freed. But none of us may be, now. This castle is surrounded by a barrier that prevents our escape."

"I have a way that may allow us to escape the castle without even crossing the barrier," Priscilla offered. She raised her staff. "This Warp spell will take us to the cabin immediately! ..."

Everyone waited in suspense for her to say the words that would initiate the Warp spell, but they never came. There was a long pause before Priscilla swayed forwards and collapsed onto her face.

"Narcolepsy," Isadora explained at Kent's puzzled expression. "She tried to use a Sleep staff once, and it backfired. She's never been the same since..."

Serra sighed. "I guess it's up to me." She lifted her staff into the air, said the magic words, and the eight vanished from the castle without a trace.

When they reappeared in front of the forest cottage, a blonde girl was running away from it yelling "Like! Like! Like!"

"You there!" Isadora shouted. "Stop!"

The others rushed into the cottage and found Sain lying on the floor and not breathing. Rebecca knelt down and took his wrist in her hands.

"He's...he's dead!" she exclaimed.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Kent and Fiora wailed mournfully in unison. Fiora's wail, however, was interrupted by a periodic sneeze.

"Hey, I can see why Kent would be upset, but you, Fiora?" Serra wondered.

"What?" Fiora asked innocently. "I have a— ACHOO! — thing with people— ACHOO! — dying! Doesn't everybody?! ACHOO!"

"Our culprit's getting away!" Isadora yelled.

"After her!" Kent shouted.

The eight went rampaging into the forest after the blonde girl. The trail was easy to follow; all they had to do was listen for the cries of "Like! Like! Like!"

They finally chased her up a cliff, and she skittered to a halt when she reached the edge. Down below were lots of sharp, pointy rocks.

"I'm, like, trapped!" the girl exclaimed.

"Give it up, Sonia!" Kent called. "We know it's you! Surrender!"

"Like! You don't, like, scare me! I'll make you all lay eggs for the rest of your pathetic likes! I mean, lives!"

She conjured a spell in her hands and fired it at Kent. He did not have time escape the curse; sharp, pointy rocks were his destiny to the left and right... There was nowhere to run!

Kent thought he was doomed, when suddenly Priscilla (who had woken up just before the chase started) and Serra raised their Barrier staffs, raising a cylindrical veil of green light that completely surrounded Kent. The curse hit the barrier with a flash and a crack of magical lightning. It tried to break through, but it was no use. It was deflected right back at Sonia, who convulsed uncontrollably as the curse hit her and enveloped her body with the crackling energy.

When it subsided, Sonia's face contorted painfully and she grabbed her rear end. "Ooh! Ah! No! You'll pay for this!" She leapt off the cliff and floated away.

Kent scratched his head. "She can fly...?"

"Kent!" Rebecca called. "We have to attend to Sain!"

"Sain!" Kent exclaimed. He ran off with the others back to the cottage.

"I don't think there's anything we can do..." Isadora said, shaking her head sadly.

"Can't you heal him?" Kent demanded frantically. "Serra! You're a servant of St. Elimine! Make like a holywoman and...and...be holy!"

"Pfff. I'm not that holy." Suddenly, Serra's eyes lit up. "Hey, I've got an idea! Someone should kiss him, and see if that wakes him up!"

Everyone stared at the Cleric like she had a third arm.

She shrugged. "I read it in a book somewhere. I vote for...not me."

"Not I!" said Florina

"Not I!" said Rebecca.

"Not I!" said Isadora.

"I'm savin' all my love for Kent," said Farina. "That means you're the only one left, Fiora! Nyah nyah! You get to kiss Sain!"

"But you didn't give me a chance to decline!" Fiora protested. "No fair!"

"Go on, pucker up, Fiora!" Rebecca teased. The other six girls started pushing her towards Sain, who lied lifeless on the couch.

"But...why me?!" Fiora demanded.

"Hey, it should probably be someone fairly fond of him, right?" Serra asked. "That means it's either you, who very blatantly expressed interest in him, or Kent."

Kent's eyes widened. He immediately joined in with the shoving. "Go on, Fiora, plant one on him!"

"Okay! Stop— ACHOO! — shoving! I'll do it, if for no other reason then to bring him back to life. This is so stupid... I've never heard of anything so ridiculous."

She knelt down before Sain and lowered her face next to his. She lingered there for a moment, trying to work up the courage to go the last inch and get it over with. As she looked into his face, she began to think that maybe he wasn't so bad. He looked so peaceful, so sweet... But then again, he was dead...

"Ah-ah-ACHOO!"

"Ew..." Rebecca muttered. "I'm sure he really appreciated that, Fiora."

Fiora scowled at the remark, and finally closed her eyes and dipped her head so her lips touched down on Sain's. It was rather pleasant, considering he was rather cold.

She leaned back, and with everyone else watched in silence for Sain to make some sort of move.

His eyes suddenly shot open, eliciting a startled scream from everyone in the room.

"Sain!" Kent cried. "Y-you're okay!"

Sain sat up and immediately grasped Fiora's hands in his own. "I have received a miracle from the most heavenly of angels! Your kiss of life has brought me back from the brink! Let's make our next kiss a kiss of love, o sweet Fiora!"

"Wah!" Fiora screamed. She leapt up and fled, with Sain at her heels.

"You can run, but you can't hide from my love!" Sain called after her, arms outstretched.

The other six laughed as an all-out chase started around the cabin.

"I'll get you all for this!" Fiora cried.

"I'm glad Snow White was okay at the end," Nils said as Canas finished.

"True love conquers all, or so they say," Canas said. He took a moment to remember his wife back home, and quirked an eyebrow at the irony. He shook his head and returned his attention back to Nils. "Are you ready for the next story?"

"I'm all ears!" Nils replied. "Well, some ears... If I was all ears, I would _be_ an ear. And that would be silly!"

"This next story is about someone with very long, blonde hair," Canas explained.

'Hm...' Nils thought. 'That reminds me of someone I met a long time ago, when I first joined up with Lady Lyndis...'


	10. RapunzeLucius

"Rapunzel is the title of this next story," Canas announced. 

"Rapunzel...?" Nils repeated.

"It comes from a different language," Canas explained. "What may sound a little silly to us may sound like a beautiful name for someone who speaks that language."

"If I ever write a fairy tale, I think I'll make the heroine's name funny on purpose," Nils mused. "Like...Bobetta!"

"Well, it's good to have goals in life, I suppose!" Canas shrugged. "On with the tale!"

* * *

After Queen Sonia had flown away from those despicable girls and that annoying werewolf, she landed on the turret of an old, dilapidated tower. She knew not why it could have been standing in the middle of the forest for; perhaps it had once been part of a castle. Regardless, it was just the place she needed to be for the moment. The embarrassment of being afflicted by her own spell was too much. 

"Damn those staff-slingers!" she growled. The Blondus Bimbous spell had since worn off during her journey, and her hair was back to its original obsidian black. "It's simply unforgivable! But I cannot go back now... And if I were to go blow off some steam by demolishing a town, I might just be interrupted by...laying an egg...! I would be a laughingstock! No evil villain organization would ever want me on their side!"

She cringed at her own words and started sobbing into her hands.

"That does it!" she screamed finally, stomping to her feet and squaring her shoulders. "I shall never leave this tower! But I can still do evil. Now that my perfection has been marred by this stupid curse, I will console myself through the suffering of others. The next well-meaning, pretty little thing that walks by is going to get it!"

* * *

Sonia stood concealed in the shadows of the tower, watching the path out of the forest closely. Someone was going to come walking out of that path sooner or later, and she would be ready when they did. 

She cackled and rubbed her hands together conspiratorially when she saw a figure coming nearer from out of the forest. He was dressed in a clean white, billowing cotton shirt and form-fitting black pants. Sonia started to question her initial impression as she continued to watch. The long blonde hair, angelic face and slender figure made this person appear decidedly feminine, and she thought perhaps this was simply a woman in drag. However, Sonia was confident in her woman's intuition, and came to the conclusion that this person coming towards her was indeed just a very pretty man.

As he passed by the tower, Sonia stepped out of the shadows and sauntered forward. The man glanced over briefly as she leaned up against the tower sensually.

"Hello, handsome," she purred.

"Hello," the man chirped. He gave a friendly wave and continued on his way.

Sonia stared after him in disbelief. She could scarcely believe that any man could resist her charm! She was concerned for a moment as she watched his long blonde hair sway as he walked that he really was a woman, and that she had been wrong. But there was something decidedly masculine about his voice, so she assured herself that he was merely playing hard to get.

He never knew what hit him when a burlap sac was suddenly thrust over his head. He protested and struggled to free himself, but to no avail. Sonia flipped him upside down, pulled the ties of the bag shut and slung him over her shoulder.

"Where are you taking me?!" the man demanded.

"Back to my tower, where you will spend the rest of your days!"

"But why?!" the man pleaded.

Sonia paused and considered this. "Well, because I feel like it! What better reason do you need?!"

* * *

Lucius stood with his chin cupped in his hand, leaning on the windowsill. He began to wish he had been more careful and heeded the advice his caretakers had given him. He was not to speak to strangers, and especially never tell anyone his name. He had gone out on his own countless times before. He would always walk this path uneventfully, enjoying the sights and sounds of nature. This is the first time he had ever even heard of anyone inhabiting the old tower. 

He looked down at the field below and sighed. All he'd said was "Hello," and now he had been kidnapped! At least he hadn't relinquished his name...

He turned and looked at the small round chamber he had been confined to. At the very least it was furnished, with a cot that looked like it was ready to fall over and a dresser full of spiders, dust, and various food stuffs rats and mice had collected and stashed within. Other than that, there was a lot of splintered chairs and other bric-a-brac lying on the floor.

"Too bad the bed has no sheets," Lucius mused to himself. "I could make a rope with them down to the ground, but that probably wouldn't work anyway... It's a long way down. If I jumped, I would probably die... Oh well, if I'm going to be staying here, I may as well clean this place up a little."

He spotted an old ribbon lying on the dresser. He brushed the dust off of it with his fingers, tied back his hair, and set to work on making the chamber look more presentable.

There was very little he could do to make the tower look very good, especially with the lack of a broom. He did manage to make an interesting sculpture out of the chair splinters for the top of the dresser. It would be a great conversation piece...if he could ever have a conversation with anyone.

Dreary spirits renewed, Lucius leaned on the windowsill again and stared out at the sky. To keep himself occupied, he began to sing a song.

"_Here, here in this world. Where do we go, where can we turn, when we need some love it seems that love just can't be found. Where, where to do we stand, when love's supply don't meet love's demand?_

"_We've got enough stars to light the sky at night. Enough song to make the whole world bright. We've got more than enough, but there's just one thing there's not enough of..._"

* * *

Raven was walking out of the forest and into a field, minding his own business when it happened. He was passing by the old dilapidated tower when he heard a heavenly voice singing above. He looked up, thinking for a moment that he was being visited by an angel. The notion was dispelled when he saw that the singing was coming from a window somewhere in the tower. Unless someone had decided that angels lived in towers while Raven wasn't looking, it was merely a woman crooning to no one in particular. 

"_Not enough love and understanding. We could use some love to ease these troubled times. Not enough love and understanding. Why, oh why?_"

Raven started grooving to the recognizable tune down below. This woman was a wonderful singer, though her voice was a little deep. In fact, it seemed a little too deep to be a woman. Raven squinted up at the figure in the window. She was difficult to make out, but Raven could see long blonde hair up in a ponytail undulating in the breeze next to her face. She appeared to be wearing a simple, long-sleeved cotton dress.

The mercenary couldn't resist when the cue in the song came, and he belted, "_We need some understanding! We need a little love! Some love and understandi—_"

"You! Down there! Hello!"

Raven jumped and stopped singing. He whipped his head up to see that the woman had noticed him and was now waving down to him enthusiastically.

Raven cleared his throat, blushing slightly at having been caught. "Um, hello," he responded, waving in return.

"Do you think you could give me a hand?" she called down. "I'm trapped in this tower!"

"What's your name?" Raven called up.

"Lu—" The woman seemed to hesitate. "Um, Rapunzel...ucius."

Raven lifted an eyebrow. RapunzeLucius? That had to be the most ridiculous name he had ever heard. But that didn't matter. He simply couldn't leave some damsel in distress. Besides, he had nothing better to do.

"RapunzeLucius, RapunzeLucius!" Raven called up, unsure of why he felt he needed to say it twice. "Let down your hair!"

RapunzeLucius shrugged and pulled on an end of the ribbon in her hair. Her gorgeous flaxen hair was released from its bindings and cascaded over her shoulders, shimmering in the sunlight. While it was certainly long, it probably didn't go much further down her back than to her waist.

"Well, that was a dumb idea..." Raven muttered. He stroked his chin thoughtfully, trying to come up with another solution. He called up, "Give me a minute! I'm going to think of something else!"

He plunked himself down on a large rock and began pondering ways of getting a woman down from a tower with the equipment he had with him and without causing fatal injury.

* * *

Sonia had heard the annoying singing coming from the man's chamber, interrupting her beauty sleep (not that she needed it, of course, in her opinion.) She slowly creaked open the door to the chamber and peered in. The man had stopped singing, but was now staring down at the ground attentively. 

It was just so perfect the way he was leaning over the windowsill. Just standing there, like a big target.

Sonia tiptoed over and bumped into him "accidentally" with her hip. He cried out and, flailing, went right over the windowsill and plummeted to the ground below.

* * *

Raven heard the cry and looked up sharply. RapunzeLucius had somehow lost her grip and fallen over the edge of the window! Raven practically flew off his rock and positioned himself beneath the screaming, plummeting woman. She collided with him, sending them both careening into the grass. Raven screwed his eyes shut and coughed at the sudden impact. He was basically uninjured, and RapunzeLucius seemed to be alright. She scrambled to raise herself up. 

Raven heard an exclamation of "Dammit!" from above, but thought nothing of it.

RapunzeLucius supported herself by her arms on either side of Raven, and was looking down at him concernedly.

Raven opened his eyes and looked up into the crystalline blue ones of the woman. "Are you alright, young—"

He cut off when he noticed that the way RapunzeLucius was positioned, her shirt hung open at the collar to reveal...a completely flat chest. He also noticed that this "woman" was wearing pants.

"—gentleman?!"

"Yes, I'm fine," he replied, climbing off of Raven and rising to his feet. He offered Raven a hand. "Thank you for breaking my fall!"

"Uh, no problem..." Raven muttered. He took RapunzeLucius's hand and rose to his feet. What was once his damsel in distress had a lower voice than when they were speaking a moment ago. In Raven's experience, sometimes when a person was shouting over a long distance, their voice became higher. "How did you get locked in that tower?"

"There was a strange woman who seemed intent on kidnapping me for no good reason," RapunzeLucius responded. He paused thoughtfully. "Actually, her reason was that she felt like it. Frankly, I don't think that's a very good reason."

Raven placed his hands on his hips. "Well, RapunzeLucius...if that is your real name... That's not your real name, is it?"

RapunzeLucius paused. He lowered his head shamefully. "No..."

"What is it then?"

"It's..."

RapunzeLucius shook his head furiously, his hair dancing about his shoulders. "I can't tell you. I'm not even supposed to be talking to you. I'm terribly sorry. I really should be going now."

"Yes, you carry on to wherever you were off to when you got kidnapped," Raven answered, nodding once. He looked up at the tower. "We can't have some psycho in the middle of the forest kidnapping passers-by," Raven said, resolved. He drew his sword and stalked off towards the tower.

"Let me help you!" the RapunzeLucius called. "I really shouldn't, but she seemed dangerous. It's the least I can do after you helped me!"

"No," Raven answered adamantly. "Just go home, okay? I can handle this. I'm a professional."

RapunzeLucius looked like he was about to protest, but only turned away and ran back into the forest.

Raven continued into the tower. The rotted, barred wooden door at the base was no match for his mighty blade, and he stepped into the dank, dusty room beyond. He heard strange noises coming from somewhere up above, and he began his journey up the spiral staircase in the tower, following the sound.

He soon came to another rotted wooden door. The sound was at its loudest here. It was coming from just beyond this door. It had to be the woman RapunzeLucius had spoken of.

Raven thrust open the door, sword at the ready. His eyes swept the room and landed on the ultimate source of the noise.

He wished he hadn't.

There was a woman in a skimpy black dress, black gloves, with long black hair. She was hunched over, her hands in fists and the muscles in her arms twitching uncontrollably. Her face was contorted in pain and effort, her eyes wide and bloodshot.

"Stupid egg!" she screamed.

Raven felt the world go a little fuzzy, and thought for a moment he might collapse. There was a woman standing right in front of him, grunting and groaning, trying to lay an egg.

Raven ran.

Raven ran fast and hard.

Back down the stairs.

Back out of the tower.

Back into the field.

And then...

...everything went blank...

* * *

Raven wandered blind through the forest. He kept his hands out in front of him, feeling around the trees and trying not to ram into anything. He wished that perhaps he'd escorted the young man home, and not tried to be a hero by going into the tower. Now he was paying for it. If only he could find RapunzeLucius... Perhaps he could help, or if he could not reverse his blindness, find him someone who could. 

The forest was quiet, save for his footfalls, crunching the leaves and twigs below. But then, something else pierced through the silence. It was that voice...that voice he'd heard from before, up in the tower. That same lovely, melodious voice, singing that same upbeat tune.

"_Spend all of our time building buildings up to the sky, reaching everywhere but where we need to reach the most. Hearts never can win in this race, this race that we're in. We've got..._"

"_...enough cars to drive around the world!_" Raven joined in, calling out desperately to wherever RapunzeLucius was. "_Enough planes to take us anywhere..._"

"_We've got more than enough._" His voice was getting closer. "_But there's one thing there's just not enough of!_"

Raven reached out for a tree trunk to steady himself, but instead found his hand meet that of another.

"_Not enough love and understanding!_"

RapunzeLucius's voice was now right next to him.

"_We could use some love to ease these troubled times!_"

Much to Raven's shock, his eyes began to clear. The blank white before his eyes slowly faded into colour and shapes. Slowly at first, but soon he could see the forest spread out before him, the trees sharpening from a flat blanket of different shades of green to individual leaves. RapunzeLucius stood before him, swinging Raven's hands back and forth in time with the song enthusiastically.

"_Not enough love and understanding! Why, oh whyyy!!!_"

RapunzeLucius stopped and looked up, blushing slightly. He let go of Raven's hands. "Sorry, I get a little carried away sometimes when I sing..."

"RapunzeLucius," Raven said in awe. "I was just completely blind. Just now, as you were singing, I got my sight back. Did you do something to me?"

"Do something?" RapunzeLucius repeated, tilting his head. "No, I don't think so. But I'm glad that you're not blind anymore." He suddenly turned away. "But I haven't been home yet. I really have to get back, before they start to worry about me! Good-bye!"

"Can I at least have your name now?" Raven called after him.

"No!" RapunzeLucius shouted. "Sorry!"

Raven could not simply allow this RapunzeLucius to leave. He had been completely blind as of moments ago, but somehow, his singing had renewed his sight. There was something about him... He must have had some kind of...powers.

"Can we at least talk sometime?" Raven shouted. "Meet me later this evening!"

"Come to the cottage at the edge of the forest!" RapunzeLucius called over his shoulder before he disappeared into the brush.

Raven breathed a sigh of relief. Later that evening, he could at last find out more about this mysterious young man who called himself RapunzeLucius.

* * *

"You know," Canas said after finishing the story, "There is another story about a young woman with a beautiful voice." 

"May I hear that one next, then?" Nils enthused. "It's almost as if it's a continuation on this one!"

"Er, yes, I suppose," Canas reluctantly agreed to Nils's theory. He flipped through the pages of the book. "Ah, here we are. The name of this next story is..."


End file.
